16 The Oceanic Languages Semitic : 



The Oceanic-Semitic particles "as" is ka, to whicli is 

 prefixed the preposition 6', Eth. ba, "in," "to," without 

 any appreciable difference often in the sense, either in 

 Semitic or Oceanic : see the above examples. In Fate, we 

 say either " bisa haka Fate," or " bisa ki Fate," speak Fatese, 

 literally " speak as Fate." So Eth. kama = hakama = as. 



§ 2. Now the ka or ki which we have just seen, denotes 

 " as " with or without the preposition ha, denotes also a 

 preposition " to," " towards," &c., as we shall now see, and 

 as before, with or without ha. 



Halevy ("Etudes Sabeennes," IX.) has shown that in 

 Sabaean ka = "to" is used as the sign of the accusative 

 and even of the dative, exactly as the preposition le in 

 Hebrew, and especially in Syriac. In Amh. ka (or ha) 

 denotes " to, from, out of, (more) than," Isenberg, Gr., p. 154. 

 We have already seen. III., § § 1, 2, that ka (6) is an 

 Oc.-Se. demonstrative particle, and III., § 5, that ki is a 

 relative pronoun in Hebrew. As the preposition " to," 

 " towards," we find it thus : — 



Mg. My. Fa. (Pa.) Sam. (Ma.-Ha.) 



ho and hank = any ka, akan ki i 



(ank is perhaps ma ki 



for ka) 



The other preposition, Eth. ha, Heb. he, ha, Arb. hi, fi, ba, 

 Syr. ha, Fiji vei, Aneityum vai, is found joined with the 

 preceding (k'J in the sense of " to," " towards," thus : — 



Mg. My. Fa. . Sam. 



hagi, haki haki Ma. ivhaka 



d. haka 



Fiji vaka = Fa. haka = " as," "thus ;" so Sam. faa, § 1> 

 and My. hagi = Fa. haki, haka = Ma. luhaka = "to," 

 " towards," § 2. But the Fate haka,¥i. vakoj, " as," has the 

 Heb. and Eth. ka, " as," whereas the My. hagi. Fa. haki or 

 haka, Ma. whaka, " to," has the Sabaean and Amharic ka 

 " to." And so again, the causative prefix, Fa. haka, Fi. vaka, 

 Sam. faa. Ma. luhaka, is neither of these, neither "as," nor 

 " to," though it has been generally held to be one or the 

 other, or rather both, compare III., § 16. It cannot be "as," 

 because the ka which alone has the force of " as," is very 

 often entirely wanting in the Oceanic causative prefix ; and 

 it cannot be "to," because the h' and /v which express "to" 

 are sometimes both wanting in the Oceanic causative prefix. 



