159 



which when isolated in the nom. sing, has the form inuk 

 2) the suffix -si- (NB. short s), which means: one gets or 

 comes across something 3) the verbal suffix of the 3'''' pers. 

 sing. ind. The whole means: one (or he) comes (or camel 

 across people (one or several persons). How is the long ^s- 

 sound in this word to be explained? We have an indication 

 that the original first element of this sound was a consonant, 

 most likely an unvoiced one just like the s-sound itself, 

 but there is otherwise no indication as to the quality of this 

 consonant. If the newly formed word only could mean: comes 

 across a person (sing.), there would be some reason imme- 

 diately to conclude that [s-\ comes of ks {inuk -\- si). But the 

 word also, and generally, means : comes across people (plural). 

 The plural of inuk, however, usually has the form inuit, which 

 in combination with -si- would result in another form than the 

 one given. So the probability remains that [s-] really comes of 

 ks, that it is the singular form to which the suffix has been 

 added. Whether к has first passed through the intermediate 

 form g, or has passed into s at one bound must, however, 

 remain uncertain. — This same word-stem may occur in all the 

 following forms according to the suffixes which are added to 

 it: *inu, *intj, *ind, Чпот, *inus, inuk (the current base-form), 

 also with inner change *i?fut, *in-U(p. All these forms are con- 

 nected not only by similarity of sound but also by similarity 

 of signification (human being: kills a h. b., is a h. b., catches 

 sight of a h.b., catches a h. b., his fellow h. b., persons whom 

 one visits on the way, etc. СГ. M. Diet. pp. 100 — 103). 



This example is typical of them all, similar changes taking 

 place when vowels are brought together as in the case of 

 consonants. 



The Varieties of form of the independent word itself one 

 might be tempted to ascribe to various kinds of assimilations, 

 but they may also be due to the fact that some suffixes are 

 added to the full form of the word, while others are added to 



