328 



the place-names are iriven to (iiid that the case is exactly as 

 we expected. It seems as if the oriy:inal settlers, who named 

 the places, always believed that they had found their own 

 familiar land again in the new districts where they came. Again 

 and again we come across names like "the island", "the big 

 island", "the little island", "the tolerably large island", "the 

 mountain" "the big mountain", etc., "the point of land", "the 

 big point of land", etc., ''the river", "the bay", "the sound", 

 'the inlet", "the corner", "the slope", "the sand", "the sunny 

 side", "the shady side", etc. — all of them words current in 

 the language, but which besides being used as common nouns 

 have become specially stamped as names of certain localities 

 in every district*). 



They are characteristic on account of their lack of individu- 

 ality. It seems as if they express the first impression made 

 by the places, and they only testify to what the Eskimo has 

 had practical use for designating; the name is given, so to 

 speak, by nature itself. 



Somewhat more special are names like "the one without 

 a top" (i.e. a cliff with a bare top); "the fragrant one"; "ebb" 

 and "flood" (i. e. places where the ebb and flood-tide are 

 especially marked); "the current" (i. e. where it is especially 

 strong); "the place where the wind blows with unusual violence", 

 etc. Here we already notice more independent power of 

 observation, yet still limited by the practical needs of everyday 

 life. The same may be said about the place-names which owe 

 their origin to the fact that certain animals frequent the locality: 

 "the auks", "the gulls", "the black guillemots", "the ringed 

 seals", "the full-grown he-eiderducks", etc., often with the 

 addition of the suffix "the many". We also find words for 

 animals that are of less importance as game such as "the 

 snails", "the mussels", and others ; likewise , though more 



•) In the following collection of place-names from North Greenland, I have 

 omitted manv of these common names. 



