Vavx.—On the Probable Origin of the Maori Races. 33 
found in Greek and other western Indo-European languages. Thus, this 
very definite article, lost in Sanskrit or Malay, but common in Greek, has 
remained in full use in Polynesia and, what is more curious, in even 
the mountain dialects of the rude Khasias of Assam. 
Il. Substantives. Ave distinguished according to their gender, number, 
whether singular or plural, and case. Of these, the first, in most 
of the dialects, is shown by attaching to the word, another one signifying 
male or female. 
Thus Maorig use tane and wahine when applied to human beings, 
tourawhi and wwha when applied to the brute creation or inanimate 
objects—as, He matua tane—He matua wahine—He kararehe tourawht (a 
male beast)—He kararehe wwha (a female “beast). Maori has, also, 
according to Dr. Maunsell (p. 19), several distinct words for specially 
related men and women as Tuahine, a man’s sister—to which it is not 
necessary to refer to more fully here. The words and their use in the 
other dialects are nearly the same. Thus— 
In Tongan and Samoan, tane, fafine. 
,, Rarotongan, tane, vaine. 
,, Tahitian, tane, vahine. 
and for animals, oni and ufa (Buschm., 168.) 
a Hawaiian kane, vahine. 
The Plural is shown in several ways, but most simply in Maori and 
Rarotongan by the prefix of nga, as, tangata, a man, nga tangata, meu. 
There are, however, in Maori other methods of expressing plurality such as 
placing before the noun some of the plural or dual pronouns, as, aku 
tupuna, my forefathers.* Sometimes o is used as, kei 0 Hone matua, with 
John’s uncles; sometimes the ground form is altered—as, tamaiti, a son, 
tamariki, children. Occasionally ma is added, with, as Dr. Maunsell 
suggests, the Greek sense di dpe, i rect (viz., a person and his company) 
—as, ket a Kukutai ma, with Kukutai and his party; while a constant 
repetition of the same act may be designated by a reduplication of one 
or more syllables, as, kimo, to wink, kimokimo, to wink frequently. : 
a a he a a Rt 
* The singular may also be denoted by a singular pronoun as toku paraikete—my 
blanket. 
+ When a special stress is needed to show that only one object is meant, Tongan 
inserts the particle be (only), as, togi be taha, axe only one, 
D 
