Thomson. — Wlience of the Maori. 



Philological Considerations on the Whence of the Maori. ^ 



By J. T. Thomson, F.R.G.S. 



(PI. I.- III.) 



[Read before the Otago Institute, 8th July, 1873.] 



In approaching the qiiestion our stand-point is naturally in New Zealand, 



from whence the siibject must be traced (if possible) to its end. Having 



already dealt with the same from an ethnological point of view,t I may 



remark that the study of words in tribes or nations has the same position in 



relation to the above science as the tracing of fossils has towards geology. 



One has its material as much imbedded in the people as the other has its in 



the earth — where one class is as much preserved for ages as the other is 



for epochs — and both may be dug out from their encasements and displayed to 



the present generation. The conclusions that we may draw from thence can 



only be stated after mature consideration. 



The subject divides itself into three headings, viz., Glossarial, Idiomatic, 

 and Phonetic ; and as the first forms the easiest approach to what may prove 

 a tedious and difficult enquiry, I will commence with it. 



Primary words, i.e., those that express first wants in men in their 

 infancy — and, equally so, tribes or nations in their infancy — are the most 

 tenacious of existence. These are common nouns, pronouns, and verbs, but 

 more particularly the first — such as man, woman, son. daughter, food, fruit, 

 fish, etc. ; or, I, you, he, we, etc. ; or, go, come, give, kill, etc. In elucidating 

 a subject such as this, therefore, we apply our enquiries to primary terms, 

 which we may denominate as the fossils of the languages, so that we may, 

 from their coincidence or approximations in difierent and distant communities, 

 weigh the aflinities of race or blood in the communities themselves. 



But while primary words are the most lasting, yet they even are subject 

 to slow and gradual change as ages roll on. In English, Chaucer gives a 

 ready example of this ; and tiirning to the Portuguese, as one of the modern 

 nations of Europe, who, more than any other, initiated the great spread of the 



* In this paper I am indebted for assistance to tlie following works, viz. : — Malagasi 

 Grammar, by Griffiths ; Tamil Grammar, by Rheuius ; Tongau Grammar, by West ; and 

 Maori Grammar, by Williams ; Malayan Dictionary, by Marsden ; Tongan Dictionary, 

 by Mariner ; Maori Dictionary, by Williams ; Vocabiilaries of the Indian Archipelago, 

 by Wallace ; also of the Kayan Language (Borneo), by Bums ; of the Timor Language, 

 by Windsor Earle ; of the Silong Tribe, by Ed. O'Eiley ; and some collections of words, 

 by J. E.. Logan, in Journ. Indian Arch . 



+ See Trans. KZ. Inst., Vol. IV., 1871, p. 23. 



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