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Easter Island: Early Witnesses

William Thomson


547

peculiarity of having a dual number of the personal pronouns in addition to the singular and plural. For example, he or she is, "Ko-ia," in the Maori it is, "ia;" they two, on this island is "rana-â," in the Maori it is "rana;" they, in this dialect is "pouro," in the Maori, it is "ratou." Words are frequently reduplicated to denote the plural of collectives in nouns, the comparative, or superlative degree in adjectives, and repeated action in verbs. "Iti" signifies little, "iti-iti," expresses very little, and the word for small child is "poki iti=iti." Food, or to eat, is "Kai," to eat much or heartily is expressed by "kai-kai." The names of several of the colors are usually duplicated, as res, "mea-mea;" black, "uri-uri;" white "tea-tea;" vermillion "ura-ura."
   An interesting feature of the language is the native name for pig, "Oru," which differs from the corresponding term in all of the other Polynesian dialects. It is probably derived from the grunting sound made by the animal. In nearly all of the kindred dialects the name for pig is "puaka," a word which is also applied by some of them to all quadrupeds except the rat. The Easter lslanders have given this name to cattle, calling a cow "puaka tamahine" (female puaka), and a bull "puaka tamaroa" (male puaka). This tends to show that although pigs had probably been introduced on the islands from which the ancestors of the present inhabitants came, they took none with them in their migration, and only preserved the word puaka in a vague sense, as signifying a large animal with four legs. When cattle were introduced, they consequently applied the term to them, and coined the new one afterwards.
   Fingers are called "manga-manga" and toes, "manga manga vae," or literally the fingers of the foot. "Kiri" means covering, and to express the wood shoe they say "Kiri vae," or covering, for the foot. "Ivi" is the name applied to both needle and bone, which probably indicates that the original needles were made of bone.
   In the pronunciation of words of two syllables, the accent is on the first; in words of three syllables it is generally on the second, and in polysyllabic words it is on the penultimate. Modern articles recently introduced on the island are called by their English names, or something that has a similar sound.
   It is worthy of note that the word "Atua" is used to signify both god and devil.

VOCABULARY.

Absent Ngaro. A or and E.
Adieu Kamoi. Age Mata hi.
Air Hangu. Abdomen Manava.
Aid Hanu. Ankle Kari-kari vae.
All (whole) Ananake. Arms Kaufa.
Ancestor Tupuna. Arm Rima.
Artisan Maori. Artery Ua noho toto
Autumn Vaha-tonga Ash-wood Mari-kuru
Ax Toki. Ape-fish Nohue.

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