BY HERMANN B. RITZ, M.A. 77 



In Icelandic, we have a still more striking instance 

 in the addition of the sound " r " to nouns and adjec- 

 tives ; in verbs this is softened to " a." We have, com- 

 paring the Icelandic words with their English equiva- 

 lents, kongr for king, hundr for hound, vikingr for 

 viking, grar for gray, langr for long, blindr for blind. 



To get at the chief meaning of the words, therefore,, 

 we must cut off these excrescences ; but this must be 

 done judiciously, for we may not know at first whether 

 in rayna, for example, the "n" belongs to the root or 

 to the ending. 



Our merit in trilingual interpretation is very much 

 diminished by the fact that we possess already fairly 

 complete lists of the words used by the Aborigines. We 

 are not to expect in their case a vocabulary as copious 

 as that of a race far more remote from the " simple 

 life," and the words we have are, comparatively speak- 

 ing, quite numerous 'enough to supply all the needs of 

 communication that may have been felt by the primitive 

 minds of our predecessors. The word " predecessor " 

 is singularly appropriate in this connection. It means 

 " One who has stepped down before," " One who has 

 pre-deceased," " One who has done before our time 

 what ourselves shall have to do before long — that is^ 

 stepped down from the eminence of being the lord of 

 all he surveys." 



Now, Milligan tells us that our song was sung in 

 praise of a great chief, one who has been high in power 

 and glory, and has stepped down and is now forgotten. 

 The very fact that this song was, as Walker tells us, 

 used by all the' Aboriginal tribes, must have had a 

 melancholy interest for t'he temporary recipient of the 

 honour, if ever he realised that, after all, he was not the 

 very first in power and glory. 



From these hints, we may conclude that the song 

 probably indicated the reasons for conferring special 

 honour on a man. Now, .in their simple lives, there was 

 not much scope for the display of excellence ; their 

 needs were few, consisting almost exclusively of food 

 and protection against enemies ; and the best man would 

 be who was best able to procure plenty of food, and 

 security in the peaceful enjoyment of it. Their hero 



