i Sima of clear, oe The terms for gray neas a 
480 Adjectives of Color in Indian Languages. [Aùgust, | 
The Michopdo Indians of the Maidu race of Northern Cali- 
fornia, east of Sacramento river, live in a small settlement on the 
outskirts of the town of Chico. They call themselves Otakimma, 
because they dwell on the banks of Otakim shéwi, their name 
for Chico creek, a small tributary of Sacramento river. Their 
dialect differs but little from that of the Eskenimma, or Indians 
on Butte creek, seven miles south of Chico, near Durham town: 
The adjectives composing their list of color names begin in e+ 
and end in -i, and the majority is trisyllabic: 
white, ékoko, said of natural and artificial white. 
gray, épupi; gray beads, épupi guya. 
blue, époti, sky-blue, purple and blue with a yellowish tinge; 
épotim papaga, the yolk of egg. 
green, ébali; green beads, ébali guya. 
yellow, edsishf, edsissi: brown, roan, dark-sorrel, buff, of metallic 
‘shine, edshishim peso, gold, gold dollar, lit. “ yel- 
low dollar.” : 
color of blue-tailed deer, esiwiti; blue-tailed deer, esiwitim buku. 
color of black-tailed deer, émuli; black-tailed deer, émulim buku. 
black, ekili; also dusky, dark complexioned. 
red, épapi; said of flowers, ants, beads, etc. 
striped in colors, etii’diiti; animals, etc. 
dark, dusky, kaisiki; said of night. 
light, clear, yokaki; said of daylight. 
In this list we perceive that the term for blue gradually passes 
into that of yellow, and that of yellow into brown. 
Like other Indians the Dakota race possesses a very complete 
scale of color names in its sonorous idioms. The dictionary of 
Rev. Stephen R. Riggs has furnished the terms of the subdialect 
of the Santee-Sioux, and the language of the other Sioux tribes 
differs but very little from it. I have rendered Riggs’ pointedh 
by z, and the nasal n, which is heard in the French do”, loit, 
reins by ng. All the principal color names possess a reduplicated 
form to mark intensity, and form denominative verbs. 
No abstract term for our word color exists, though there is one 
for žo paint, owa, and others for diig and painting in any of the 
principal colors. 
© White is rendered by ska, to whiten by skaya, while sang 
means whitish, yellowish, brown, and ska also possesses the 
