OF THE YORUBA LANGUAGE. 



47 



of the future, to which reference was made in paragraph 25, page 41, render the radical 

 affinity of abi and habeo very probable. Cfr. Eg., pe, pu, the, to be; Lat., capio ; Hob., 



52. Agog. — A formative, and gon. Kindred forms arc found in goo-go, to be sharp; go, 

 to be long and slender ; goo-goo, to be large or prominent ; guo, to strike against, pound,, stab, 

 2>ierce. Cfr. Sans., han; Lat., con-tra; Gcr., gegen ; Gr., ymvla. 



53. Aice. — A, that which, and ke, to cut. Cfr. Sans., agri, an edge; Gr., &xrj,d£()>i); Lat., 

 ascia, acies; Shyennc, hoak, an axe; Dakota, ksa, to separate ; Blackfoot, koksakin, axe 

 (Chin., kin, metal, an axe). 



54. Aicii. — A, that -which, and ke, to cherish. Ke may be a modification of the older 

 form ka, which signifies around, to fold. Cfr. Lat,, car us ; E., caress. 



55. Akoij, or Akuij. — " That which hums." Formative a and kog, or kun, to hum, to 

 murmur. The word is probably exotic, or it would be used for the shell itself, as well as 

 for beads that are made of shell, but it suggests a very plausible etymology for * ( ; OT . The 

 probability of a radical connection is strengthened by the fact that the Yoruba word for 

 knee is ekuy, while the knee-pan (*<> r xy) is translated by diaggboro. Bo signifies to cover ; 

 boro, very near, and dfagg seems akin to Sans. djanu« ; Gr., r « W ; Lat., genu. In Chin., 

 kang [Morrison, No. 5121] denotes a ringing noise ; kung [M., 6583], to lag hold of with 

 the hand* to grasp round, to bundle up; ko [M., G451-68] to surround, a shell ; kang [De 

 Guigncs, 12,781], "magna couchylia." 



These resemblances arc suggestive of an onomatopoetic gradation of ideas, based on the 

 murmur of the hollow shell, which may be represented by the English words call, conch, 

 curved. A similar gradation is perhaps traceable in the Yoruba words ko, to call ; kara, 

 loudly; bu-awoij, a conch-shell ; (wot), to weave ; wo, to be hollow, to eider into ; awoij, a tortoise) ; 

 kakara, a muscle-shell; ka, to fold, to roll; kpe, to call ; kpc-kpc, a shell. 



56. Akitico. — Ako, the male of beasts ; ko, to call, crow, shout. "The male crowcr."f 



57. Amona. — Ami, a, spy, a sign; ona, a road,, — or a, one who, mo, knows, ona, the road. 

 The word ami, one who sees, or that which is seen, points to an obsolete Yoruban root mi, 

 to see, for which an equivalent is found in Lat. miror. The subordinate radical in miror, 

 may be cognate with ra or ri in Eg., ra, the sun; iri, the eye; Yor., ri, to see; iri, sight; 



vxi., opaei, 



58. Ataka, or AdABA. — Ata, the ridge of a house,ha, to alight, to sit. " The roof-sitter." 

 The primitive meaning of ata appears to be " that which is spread out," from ta, or te, 

 to spread. Wcdgcwood associates dove with dive, and refers to the curious resemblances 

 between columha and xohj^av. If the etymon of xoXo/iSdw were known, this single word 



* Cfr. Sans, cangulas liand. 



f In Dakota, the cock is aijpao-hotonna mdoka, "the male dawn-crower." 



