XIV

A brief paragraph may be given to the comparison of Micmac words with those of other members of the Algonquin family, for it often happens that a peculiar form in one language is explained by reference to another of the group. The Micmac word zvélumi’gzm- 020010, a compound of lmuégun, hatchet, and zui’ozmw, a form now obsolete in Micmac. is a good illustration in this connection, for the third plural of the possessive pronoun is wéu'ou- to this day in the Otchipwe and Ottawa Languages. Of this word it might be said in passing that the possessive pronoun ‘buries the hatchet‘ between its own stem and inflection. Notice farther that the word [caret means ‘almost’ in Micmac and ‘exactly‘ in Otchipwe; man (mankind), is ulnoo (elenoo) in the former, and Mini in the latter; woman is ("z/cure in Otchipwe, (1172'! in Micmac, and 5751'! in Maliseet; dog is am'muuslz in Otchipwe, ulumootc in Micmac, and ulmus in Maliseet; canoe is lcéman, in Otchipwe, ku'édzm, in Micmac. and kltlcn'ilzm in Maliseet. The adjective ‘black’ is makié in Otchipwe, ma/zldu'fi in Micmac and muéusizwdd in Maliseet; white, wdbd is almost identical throughout the three languages, and also in Cree. ‘Moccasin‘ is really the one word in all the languages: we borrowed it from them, with ‘wigwam,’ ‘wampum,’ ‘sachem,’ ‘tomahawk,’ ‘toboggan,’ and on down the list, to tobacco at the bottom.

Parts of Speech. '

THE language has the usual eight Parts of Speech, though it shares with other primitive languages the peculiarity that one word may perform a variety of functions by the addition of a simple prefix or‘ inflection. The verb is THE WORD, more so than with us, every part ‘ of speech is connected with it, and almost any word may become verb with every function complete by adding a simple termination thus we have the noun tcémmz, ‘a man,’ giving lrémmzooé, ‘I am man’; the pronoun ”2’”, ‘I,’ with nénawé, ‘it is I,’ or ‘I am he’; an the adjective kalool, ‘good,’ giving 11110052, ‘ I am good ‘; nor are thes the only parts of speech that transgress.