20 



The Oceanic Languages Semitic: 



wa, to be. For Arb. fi, Eth. ha, fee, the derivation suggested 

 by Halevy is the best. He derives it from the verb, which 

 in Heb. is ba, to enter, come, the cognates in Arb. beuig ha 

 and fa. 



The Fa. an, ane (see e.) is sometimes pronounced d, as if 

 a were the verb substantive and the ?! suffixed to it for 

 emphasis, " is, there." The n certainly suggests the ideas of 

 emphasis and distance. With the participial m (soon to be 

 discussed) this in Fa. is ma, and onaiiy as " i ma rarua," it is 

 in the canoe, or " i man tafa," he is (away or yonder) on the 

 hill. In Fa. an is used as an auxiliary to denote continuing 

 action, as is, in " he is talking." 



g. Note how most of these verbs substantive either are 

 derived from pronominals, or become pronominals ; for in 

 every case it may not be easy to determine whether the 

 verbal or pronominal idea was the more original. This 

 throws a new light on the demonstrative elements in III. 

 §5^ 1, 2 ; with (2) compare /. in this section ; with (3) and 

 (7), c; with (4), h.; with (5), e.; and with (6), a. 



h. This throws light also on many of the Oceanic Personal 

 Pronouns. Thus to take those beginning with I, it seems 

 that the I, changed sometimes to r, and d (see h. above) is 

 rather the verb substantive than the article, III. § 3, h. (4), 

 though, as this verb substantive and article are radically 

 identical, it is difficult sometimes to distinguish between 

 them. A comparison of form and use will prove however 

 that it is really in this case sometimes the verb substantive 

 used as an auxiliary and not the article : — 



Thou He We 



Ye 



They 



Pt. Moresby lau 

 Lobo laku 









Sumatra 



rehu 



rio 



dio 





Malay 



daku 



dikau 



dia 



dikau dia 



Ja 





dika 







Mg. 





rika 







Nigrito 





Toky 





dicamu 



Fa. 









ru(eru) 

 Dual ra (era) 



Sam. 









Dua] la 



Epi 

 Eth. 



haloku 



haloka 



halo 



le 

 halokemu halaivu 



Ainh. 



alahu 



alah 



ale 



alu 



