MELANESIAN ANNOTATIONS ON THE VOCABULARY. 57 
upon rabia. That once granted, it is simple evolution in form to account 
for the remainder of the series. But while the metathesis is mechani- 
cally possible, there is grave reason to doubt its feasibility in another 
and most important regard. We have seen that ra—bia is a compac- 
tion of a noun and a descriptive modifier. In these languages, while 
such compaction is easy and tends to assume a certain degree of per- 
manence, it is scarcely comprehensible that the component words 
can so far have lost their individuality as to suffer metathesis from 
one word unit to the other destructive of each. We may illustrate 
this in English: ‘‘dun cow” is a similar association, though not com- 
paction, of noun and descriptive modifier; metathesis would produce 
“cun dow,” which might pass muster as a Spoonerism, but which 
certainly wrecks the sense of each word. 
55. mal perineal band. 
REFERENCES: Melanesische Wanderstrasse, 114:93. Deutsch-Neuguinea, 208a. 
POLYNESIAN. 
malo Samoa, Viti, Futuna, Niué, Hawaii. maro Atiu, Maori, Tahiti, Mangaia, Ma- 
ngareva, Rapanui. 
MELANESIAN. 
1. malo Mota, Barriai, Kobe, Omba. Aweleng, Amgd, Mait, 
Wogeo, Manam. Namarodu, Punam, Sura- 
2. malomalo Pororan, Petat, Omba. lil, Pororan, Petat, Malol, 
3. mar6d Anuda. Keule, Siassi. (Waigiou: 
4. malu Tsinapaéli. Akur, Vrinagol, mar; Nufoor: maar.) 
Kait. 6. mol Tumleo, Manikam. 
5. mal Arop, Sissano, Paup, Yako- | 7. mel Bogadjim. 
mul, Karkar, Siar, Saran, | 8. mdol Tumileo. 
Graget, Bilibili, Langtub, 
The study of this series of Melanesian designations for the import- 
ant article of male attire is complicated by the fact, which Friederici 
points out, that in most of the communities here recorded the men 
went wholly nude until quite recent times. ‘Their earliest contact 
with a type of culture slightly above their own was in the introduction 
of mission endeavor, and in this the pioneers were largely Samoan 
teachers. Thus was provided a channel for the introduction along 
with the new garb of its Samoan name malo. At the same time there 
is reason to determine that at least some Melanesian communities 
had vocables of this stem from their remote antiquity. The mutation 
in this series offers little upon which to comment, for all the altera- 
tions are of the most familiar type. 
56. man bird. 
REFERENCES: Melanesische Wanderstrasse, 71: 160, 142). Deutsch-Neuguinea, 
192. Ray, 392: 11, 483:11. Codrington, 39:5. Subanu, 132. Polynesian 
Wanderings, 372. 
POLYNESIAN. 
manu Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, Mangareva, Marquesas, Paumotu, Viti, To- 
Rarotonga, Mangaia, Futuna, ngarewa, Kapingamarangi. 
Niué, Uvea, Fotuna, Bukabuka, | manman Rotuma. 
Maori, Hawaii, Nuguria, Rapanui, 
