268 The Oceanic Languages Shemitic : a Discovery. 



longer in living use. The Oc. causative is formed by prefix- 

 ing ba or baka (explained Voc., 50) to the verb. Mg., ampa. 

 Ero.. ampi (m euphonic), seems to be the original Sh. 

 Hiphil or Aphel of ba, and prefixed to verbs, denotes to make 

 to come to be, what the verb signifies. The My., and some- 

 times the E£, forms a causative by suffixing to the verb han 

 or i. These are simply epenthetic demonstratives, as already 

 explained above. 



Here note a curious example that may throw light on a 

 word occurring but once in the Bible, and whose meaning is 

 disputed — the word charak (as to which see Ges. Diet). Ef., 

 karak, to catch, seize, lay hold upon, more especially by clasp- 

 ing or becoming intertwined with, to catch and cling to, and to 

 seize in order to slay (Voc., 172). 



§9. Adverbs. There are certain adverbs in Oc, as in Sh., 

 consisting of the particle k, as, prefixed to a demonstrative 

 thus, kasa, ngasa ; so ; Heb., kazeh : ku, ngu (kua) ; so ; Heb. 

 koh (from kehu, Ges.) : ngaku (kaku) ; so, thus ; Heb., kakah : 

 kite ; Ch., keti (or kite); as, as if, when, &c. 



2. Certain demonstratives are used interrogatively, as fol- 

 lows : — Se ? we or wabe ? sabe ? wabe ? &c, where ? Mg., 

 aiza ? Sam., o fea ? My., mana ? Ngasa (kasa), above, with 

 na prefixed, in Ef. means when ? Sam., afea ? Bia or bisa, 

 how many ? Mg., firy ? Sam., fia ? My., birapa ? In Heb. 

 how many ? is kemah ? to which is analogous Tannese kefa 

 only substituting J f, for J m (vide §1). 



3. Certain demonstratives are used as adverbs of affirma- 

 tion, as ia ; Mg., eny ; Sam., io ; My., iya ; so the Heb. hua, 

 &c, means not only this, but sometimes it is, &c. 



4. Adverbs of negation. The Shemitic negatives are 

 usually formed from verbs signifying to be void, null, to be 

 empty, &c; Ef., ta, ti, tu ; My., same ; Heb., tahh (whence 

 tohu, Gen. 1.), to be waste, empty. Cognate to this is Heb. 

 shah, and the Santo negative is sa; Mg., tsy. Heb., all is de- 

 scribed by Ges. as "a verb having the force of nothing, empti- 

 ness," whence the common Heb. negative la, which Ges. 

 says was "anciently pronounced le;" the Sam. negative is 

 le. Another negative occurs in My. and Tanna, bu or pu, 

 and the Arb. verb bahi signifies "to be void and empty." 

 Ef. e, or i (Voc, 25); Heb. e, is from un or in, according to Ges., 

 which signifies nothing, negation : in Api, i, as in Eth. and 

 Amh., is used before the verb. As in Arm. (Ch. and Syr.) a 

 verb substantive is suffixed to the negative, forming a word 



