210 RIGHTHANDEDNESS. 



right hand is ne-he-che-neenj\ ne being the prenominal prefix, literally 

 my great hand. My left hand is ne-nuh-miinfe-neenj-ne. Nu-munj is 

 the same root as appears in nuh-munj-e-doon, I do not know; and the 

 idea obviously is the uncertain, or unreliable hand. Again, in the 

 Mohawk language, the right hand is expressed by the term ji-he-we- 

 yen-den-dah-lcon, from ke-we-yen-deh^ literally, " I know how." Ji is 

 a particle conveying the idea of side, and the termination dah-hon has 

 the meaning of " being accustomed to." It is, therefore, the limb 

 accustomed to act promptly, the dextrous organ. Ske-ne-kiva-dih 

 the left hand, literally means '' the other side." 



The American languages abound with examples of a decimal system 

 of numerals traceable to the primitive mode of counting on the fingers. 

 On the Labrador coast, talleic, a hand, also signifies five. Among the 

 Muyska Indians the phrase for five is " hand finished." Ten is " two 

 hands finished." The feet are then resorted to in similar fashion so as 

 to express the numerals to twenty. This process was in use among the 

 Caribs, and is common to widely severed races of the old and new 

 world, with special modifications expressing the same recognition of the 

 inferior rank of one hand in relation to the other, which is indicated in 

 the classical sinistra as compared with the dextera manus. 



The Anglo-Saxon equivalent terms are swytkre and wynstre, as in 

 Matthew vi. 3 : " Sothlice thonne thu thinne aelmessan do, nyte thin 

 wynstre hwaet do thin swythre;" " When thou doest alms, let not thy 

 left hand know what thy right hand doeth." Again the distinction 

 appears in a subsequent passage thus : "And he geset tha seep on hys 

 swithran healfe, and tha tyccenu on hys wynstran healfe.'' (Matt. 

 XXV. 34.) Here the derivation of swythre from swyth, strong, power- 

 ful, swythra, a strong one, a dextrous man, swythre, the stronger, the 

 right hand, is obvious enough. It is also used as an adjective, as in 

 Matthew V. 30 : " And gif thin swythre hand the aswice, aceorf hig 

 of 3" " And if thy right hand ofi'end thee, cut it oflT." The derivation 

 of wynstre is less apparent, and can only be referred to its direct signifi- 

 cance, se wynstra, the left. In the isolated apiarepot;, dpiurepd^ there 

 is a comparative form, arising, it may be, from the depreciatory 

 comparison between it and its more favoured brother, the ds^id, or 

 right-hand. This is obvious enough in the ffza:o<r, the left, the ill- 

 omened, the unlucky ; or, like the French gauche, awkward, clumsy, 

 uncouth. The left arm was the shield-bearer; hence It: dffnida, on the 

 left, &c. 



