LANGUAGES OF THE KILIM A -NJA It 0 DISTRICT. 457 
that 61 maybe compounded of o (ole, “male”) and 
el. 
This consideration leads us to the discussion of the 
masculine, feminine, and neuter (or common) particles 
which are often prefixed to nouns and adjectives. 
0, oi, li, le , indicate masculinity or strength when 
prefixed to a root. These forms are evidently derived 
from ole (plur. olewa ), “ male,” a term which is possibly 
allied to the verbal stem gol, “ to be strong,” and 
iolo, yolo , “to know,” “to be able, 55 and even olon, 
golon , 64 sun.” Placed before a root word, ole has by 
contraction or abbreviation become o, oi (ole, o-e, o-i ), 
le, &c. This prefix is used at present to give a mas¬ 
culine character to the word it precedes : as oigob ( oi - 
hob; hob, “land”), “men of the land; 5 ’ 8 o-iroh , “black,” 
masc. ; o-ibor, “ white,” masc. (ol-doinyo oibor, “ the 
white mountain”); o-irosi, “heavy,” masc.; li-hai, 
“another,” masc. ; Lino, “ thy,” masc.; and so on. 
The traces of the common or neuter prefix, e, ei, 
or el (ele), are not so frequent as either the masculine 
or feminine particles ; still there are several words in 
which it is indisputably present, as ei-bardani, “bride 
or bridegroom; 55 eLgulo, “breast-bone;” ei-bangi, “a 
moderate-sized hill; 55 e-jon, “fresh, green; 5 ’ e-iroh, 
“ black ;” e-ado, “ long; 55 e-muaja, “ how much ? 55 all 
adjectives in the common gender: and abstract nouns, 
as eweji, “place; 55 eiso (Latuka, eido), “heaven; 55 
e-duwa, “ bitterness ;” e-gogo, “ old age, 55 &c. 
The feminine prefix is na, and appears to be 
connected with the root, nana, “weak, soft, ten¬ 
der,” even in a depreciatory sense, “worthless, 
rotten.’ 5 It is united to all stems to which a special 
8 This term oigob (with the article, el-oigob) is supposed to he 
the origin of the Swahili term “ Kwavi ” for the agricultural Masai. 
