The Oceanic Languages Shemitic : a Discovery. 267 



The passive. Gesenius says of the Heb. (Paul part.) that 

 it " is probably a remnant of a lost passive form of qatal," 

 and remarks that "in the Aramaean the passives of Piel 

 and Hiphil are in like manner lost, except in the parti- 

 ciples." Now, this shows a tendency to lose passives con- 

 siderably developed even in ancient Sh. In the Oc. we 

 naturally find this tendency carried further. Instead of the 

 ancient passives we see in Ch. and Syr. substitutes consist- 

 ing of a syllable ath, eth or ith (cf Arb. t, Conj. V.) prefixed 

 to the active, which syllable is probably originally the verb 

 subst. ath or ith. Accordingly we find the ethpeel, ethpaal, 

 ethtaphal, and eshtaphal " conjugations" having a reflexive 

 or reciprocal as well as a passive signification. What we 

 find in Oc. is exactly analogous ; but, first, it may be noted 

 that of the original Sh. passives there are only traces in Oc, 

 thus, Ef. barua, to be clear of, free from ; Heb., barua (Paul 

 part, of bara) which, in Arb., means to cut, plane (cf. Voc, 

 179). The later Arm. method of indicating the passive by pre- 

 fixing a verb subst. we find well represented and in living- 

 use, thus, ta — perhaps the Ch. ita (ith a), cf- Arb., tawa (vide 

 Yoc„ 296) — ma,and bi,in Ef.; and di (Ef. ta), tar, Heb. dur, and 

 ka (Ef. aux. verb) in My. So in My. ma and be are used 

 before instransitives, as in Ef.; and bar, Eth. nabar, to dwell 

 (vide Voc. above, 55.) 



These, or some of them, as Ef., bi, fi ; Sam., fi ; Mg., fa, are 

 also used in a reflexive or reciprocal sense ; and sometimes 

 these particles, like the Arm. ath, &c, are merely intensi- 

 tive. 



The intensive effect is also secured by re-duplication, as 

 in the Sh ; in My., as Crawford (My. Gr.) says, " by the 

 simple repetition of the radical ;" so also in Ef., where, how- 

 ever, as well as in Po. and My., the radical is sometimes 

 abbreviated according to the following rule, taken from 

 Sayce's Assy. Grammar : — " When a monosyllable is repeated 

 the last consonant of the first syllable is generally assimilated 

 to the first consonant of the second syllable," as kakabu for 

 kabkabu. The same thing is found very prevalent in Oc, as 

 a glance at any respectable vocabulary will show (vide for 

 examples Voc, 49, 54, 150, 235, 256). This is simply the 

 Pilpel conjugation, which, as Gesenius says, is analogous to 

 Piel, and which is in living use every day all over Oceania. 



Of Piel and Hiphil we have traces in Oc. (vide for examples 

 Voc, 103, 112, 118, 159, 173, 234, 50, 245). They are no 



