XV

As in Latin there is no Article, and the use of the English Pre- position is superseded largely by the case-ending. There is no Copula Verb in Micmac, its place being supplied by what may be called the verbal inflection, or by placing two or more substantives or pronouns in apposition—thus, besides saying tcémtmooé, ‘I am a man,’ I may say nén 1152mm”, ‘1 man’; while if I say A)?! moodin, I might either imply that you belong to the bear totem or clan, or that you are your- self transformed into a bear. There is a verb of place (212m, meaning ‘ I am there,’ which Dr. Rand compares phonetically with the Greek copula 51m and the English ‘am,’ though it is never a copula as used by the Micmacs.

Nouns.

Nouns, the names of things, or rather ‘words that are the names of things’ are of the three classes, as with us, though Proper Nouns are yet compound phrases conveying a definite meaning. People were known by distinguishing nicknames, and places by some peculiarity of feature, or historical association. as Segubuwdkadé, and Si/ctdwéaé, which are still known as Shubenacadie and Stewiake, and preserve for the Micmacs the idea of ‘the place of the segubun,’ a native potato or ground-nut, and ‘the river oozing slowly out from dead water;’ the the name of Sackville, N. S., preserves the memory of a deadly scourge of measles (aloasool) that decimated the families at the “measly-place” a short time before the pale-face came, if tradition may be trusted. There is often richest poetic imagery in these proper names, as in E pagan], which means ‘at rest on the sea, moored alongside,’ or ‘cradled in the arms of the encircling shore.’ and beautifully describes Prince Edward Island. Megamagee, the ancient name for the Mari- time Provinces, means ‘the home of the true men,’ the Micmacs. One illustration of a double nickname is that of the old warrior Xdktoogoo, the thunderer, who took as his dignified name after the coming of the French, T ona'le, an attempt to pronounce their word tonnere, the French translation of his sonorous name. The French word Roisseau is on the other hand the original surname of the large Micmac Brooks connection in Nova Scotia, they being descended from a French man-