404 



THE COPTIC ELEMENT IN 



form. This may be seen by a comparison of certain words in that 

 language with corresponding ones in that of Loo-Ohoo.** 



English: bridge quick pencil nose ship umbrella navel. 



Loo-Choo: hashee hayee hoodee honna hoonee shassee whoosoo. 

 Japanese: fas, bas faijo fuda fanna fune fisasi fosso, feso. 



It is not to be supposed that the difference between these two 

 languages arises from the inability of the people of Loo-Choo to 

 pronounce the letters p, b and /. Both in Japan and Loo-Choo the 

 word for fire is/e, for Aower, fanna, and for star, ybs* or fooshee. In 

 the word denoting sail the languages seem to change places, for in 

 Loo-Choo it is foo and in Japanese hoo. Still more striking is the 

 fact that the Japanese yak, meaning hundred, is replaced in the 

 dialects of Canton and other parts of the Chinese Empire by pah. 



The Polynesian languages might afford us many examples of the 

 use of the prefix now under consideration, like the word for hair, 

 which, among the Friendly or Tonga Islanders, has the two forms 

 ooloo and fooloo. I shall confine myself, however, as in the case of 

 the African languages, to an illustration from the Malay numerals. 

 These numerals present many interesting points of connection with 

 those of the Indo-European languages. Thus, three is toru ; two 

 is duo, and when one has not the form of isa, sye, essa, approaching 

 the Greek heis, it assumes that of satoo, aida, ida, taha, which is not 

 unlike either the Syriac and Chaldee HHAD, the Hebrew ECHAD, 

 the Arabic AHAD or WAHAD, or the Sclavonic Odin, leden. The 

 following are the numerals seven and eight in fifteen different 

 languages of Polynesia. 



LANGUAGE. SEVEN. EIGHT. LANGUAGE. SEVEN. EIGHT. 



Raratonga . . itu vara. Tonga fitoo valoo. 



Otaheite .... heitoo . . . warroo. 



Easter I.. , . . hiddoo . . . varoo. 



N. Zealand. . weddoo . . warroo. 



Buges pitu aruwa. 



Madagascar .. heitoo . . . balloo. 



Baita paitoo .... ooaloa. 



Mangavai. . . pitu alo. 



To these may be added five more irregular forms. 



Language, Paumotua. Sava. Rotti. Marquesas. 



Seven: hito hetu petu hitu 



hawa panu 



fiti . 

 pito. 

 petu 

 fita. 



Eiffht : 



LANGUAGE. 



Tonga 



Tuham .... 

 Phillippine. 



Java 



N. Guinea , 



Samoa fitu 



Piji pitu 



talu 



gualu. 



valo. 



wolo. 



wala. 



valu. 



walu. 



Sandwich, 

 hiku, 

 valu. 



** Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea, and the Great Loo-Choo 

 Island, by Captain Basil Hall, P.R.S., &e Vocabulary by Lieutenant Clifford. London, 1818. 



