Mr Rivers , The colour vision of the Eskimo. 147 
word “kaijuk,” which was said to be the name of the yellow fox, 
was used by three individuals for brown wools and seemed more 
like a word for brown. It was only used spontaneously for brown, 
but the natives agreed that it would be correct to call a bright 
yellow by this name and it was also said to be properly used for 
grey. It was evidently far from being a generally accepted term 
for the colours which we are in the habit of classing together as 
brown. Of the five individuals examined by Virchow, three called 
brown aupalangajuk, one tongulangajok and one kojoangajok, no 
doubt the same word which I have written kaijuangaijuk. 
One of the men examined by me also called two different 
brown wools tungajuangaijuk, showing the same tendency to 
confuse blue and brown in nomenclature which Bessels found 
among the Eskimo of Smith Sound. This confusion of blue and 
brown is very common and is still met with among German 
peasants 1 . 
The most characteristic feature of the Eskimo language appears 
in the colour vocabulary in the very extensive use of qualifying 
affixes. If one excepts three words, sinanuk, ayjangatuk and 
kaijuk, which were comparatively rarely used, all hues, shades and 
tints of colour were named by various modifications of the six 
words for red, yellow, green, blue, white and black. I have given 
in brackets the meaning of the various affixes used so far as I was 
able to ascertain them. There seemed to be no doubt that the 
termination “ -angaijuk ” corresponded exactly to our “-ish” ; the 
terminations -larik. -lulutuk, -sorituk, -niusaijak, were said to 
mean real, light, pure, and light or dull, respectively, and the way 
in which they were used corresponded with these meanings. 
Another termination “ -tamerik,” once used in the form “ tam- 
erikmerik,” was said to mean “ dark,” but it was used both for 
deep black and for white and was probably used in the sense of 
“ intense ” or “ pure.” I was unable to ascertain the meaning of 
the termination “ -netuk,” but it may be negative; one object was 
called “ kenelariknetuk ” which was said to mean “not real 
black.” I have been unable to find any of the above examples in 
the list of affixes given by Rink. 
The Eskimo colour vocabulary presents a marked development 
of what I believe to be an uncommon tendency of colour language. 
In every language there are a certain number of well-established 
definite terms for colour with which every individual of the race 
is familiar. When names are given to other colours it is most 
common to use words derived directly from comparison with some 
natural object. This usage is generally found in Australian and 
Melanesian languages and, among the languages of which I have 
See Kirchhoff, Das Ausland, 1888, p. 546. 
