THE SHELLUH LANGUAGE. 483 



the rule of Tamashek' iniiexioii for gender, and a slight modifi- 

 cation of this {tehayali) is found in the Kabyle. A somewhat 

 similar example is the word tasardount for mule, this being the 

 regular feminine form of the Kabyle name, aserdoun. The 

 word adrar (mountain) forma its plural idrarn exactly accord 

 ing to rule, and both singular and plural are identical with the 

 Tamashek' forms ; while the Kabyle shows dialectic differences, 

 especially in the plural where the final r of the singular is lost. 

 The last word in the list affords an illustration of the liability 

 to eiTor incurred by a traveller attempting to form a vocabulary 

 of a language with which he has but a slight acquaintance. 

 Good is here used in the sense of a satisfactory answer to 

 inquiries, pretty much as all rigid is adopted in colloquial 

 English. Jackson was doubtless familiar with the expression 

 eyan ras, which he gives as the Shelluh eq\iivalent, and which 

 we also often heard from the natives ; but the ras of the Shelluh 

 is obviously the same as the Tamashek' adverb r'as, meaning 

 only, or exclusively, which invariably follows the word elkir in 

 the corresponding Tamashek' reply, elkir r'as. 



It has not appeared necessary to add to the table gi^-en above 

 a column for the corresponding words in the Zenaga language 

 from the vocabulary given by General Faidherbe. The amount 

 of verbal similarity between this and the Shelluh is very 

 trifling, and the distinguished author referred to was doubtless 

 misinformed when led to express a belief in their close con- 

 nection. 



The time is perhaps not yet come for forming a definitive 

 judgment as to the origin of the Bereber languages, and the 

 precise nature of the relations between them and the ancient 

 language of Egypt on the one hand, and those of the Semitic 

 family on the other. The present writer feels his own incom- 

 petence to grapple with questions of such difiiculty, and will 

 merely refer the reader to the conclusions recently announced 

 by M. de Rochemonteix as those which appear to carry with 

 them the greatest weight. 



In his essay, publi^ed in 1876,' the learned writer finds 

 that the ancient Egyptian and the Bereber possessed the same 

 pronominal roots, and employed the same methods for forming 



> i:ssai sur les ra]>pm-ts grammatically entre I'Egyptien at U BerUir, 

 par le Marquis de Rochemonteix. Paris, 1876. 



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