OF LANGUAGES. 



55 



" younger brother " and " younger sister," appear mostly in 

 those languages where those special words for " elder brother" 

 and " elder sister " originated from one and the same term 

 being pronounced differently, as is the case, e.g., in some 

 Tungusian and Mongolian dialects. The Tungusians near 

 Ochozk call elder brother Akmu, " elder sister " Ekmu, and 

 t( younger brother and sister" indiscriminately Nougu. The 

 Kalkha Mongolians distinguish the same persons respectvely 

 by the names of Aga, Ege(cy), and Bu. This peculiar 

 nomenclature exists also in American and Australian 

 languages, though the singular mode by which in American 

 pronouns are combined with nouns, aggravates somewhat 

 the etymological recognition of the original roots. 



Four distinct terms for these four forms of kinship, i.e., one 

 special for each, are found in the languages of the Chinese, 

 Turks, Dravidians, Hungarians, &c. Thus in : 



Chinese elder brother is Eeung elder sister Tsze. 



Chagatai „ „ „ Aga, „ „ Bacy. 



Telugu ,, ,, ,, Anna, ,, „ AJchd. 



Hungarian „ „ ,, Ba(Bacy,) „ „ Nene. 



Chinese younger brother is Te, younger sister Mei. 



Chagatai „ „ Iny, „ *, Singil. 



Telugu „ ,, Tammudu, „ „ Gellelu, 



Hungarian ,, ,, Ocs „ „ Hug, 



The nearest approach to expressing in a concrete language 

 the relationship of " brother " and " sister " is, as far as I 

 know, made in Chinese. Here the two terms senior and] unior, 

 Heung and Te, are united and Heung-te is used in the sense 

 of brother, as Tsze-mei in that of sister. Whenever other 

 concrete languages form similar compounds, these com- 

 pounds have a plural and not a singular meaning, e.g., 

 Aga ene among the Kasan Tatars, and Annan tambigiil 

 among the Tamulians, signify " brothers, " at least one pair 

 of elder and younger brothers. 



