389 46 16MB
English Pages 224 [236] Year 2019
FRAGMENTS
FROM
BABEL
F r a g m e n t s from Batel JOHN D Y N E L E Y
PRINCE
AMS Press, Inc. New York 1966
Copyright 1939, Columbia University Press New York
Reprinted 1966 with Permission of Columbia University Press
AMS Press, Inc. New York, N.Y. 10003
M a n u f a c t u r e d in The United States of America
FOREWORD HESE ESSAYS of Professor John Dyneley Prince are new evidence of the breadth and character of present day /i American scholarship. The topics with which they deal are specialized in high degree; nevertheless their treatment by Professor Prince reveals once more a fruitful use of the scientific method in the field of philology. The Western peoples have, since the breakdown of Latin as the common language of educated men in any land, struggled to understand each other's life and thought by the use of very few of the modern languages. These were primarily English, French and German. For more than a generation past there has been a strong tendency to add Spanish and Italian to this list, and yet more recently the vigorous study of the Scandinavian tongues and of the East European languages has been undertaken. It is to this movement that the studies and interpretations of Professor Prince lend strength and direction. They are of value and importance not alone because of what they are but also because of what they represent. NICHOLAS
Columbia University in the City of New York February 1, 1939
MURRAY
BUTLER
VITA
J
O H N D Y N E L E Y P R I N C E , professor, author, diplomat, the son of John Dyneley Prince and Anne M. Morris, of Baltimore, was born in New York City on April 17, 1868. He was the great-grandson of Reverdy Johnson, Chancellor of Maryland and United States Minister to England after the Civil War. In 1889 he married Adeline, daughter of Dr. Alfred Loomis, of New York.
Professor Prince received his degree of Bachelor Columbia in 1888. He studied in Berlin University, a Fellow in Johns Hopkins University, 1890-1891; his degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the last-named 1892.
of Arts from 1889-90; was and received institution in
Professor Prince accompanied the expedition of the University of Pennsylvania to Babylonia, 1888-1889, as official representative of Columbia University. He was Professor of Semitic Languages in New York University, and Dean of the Graduate School, 18921902; Professor of Semitic Languages in Columbia University, 1902-1915, Professor of Slavonic Languages, 1915-1921, Professor of East European Languages, 1933-1937, Professor Emeritus of East European Languages, 1937-. Professor Prince was a member of the New Jersey Assembly, 1906-1908, and Speaker in 1909; member of the New Jersey Senate, 1910-1912. Leader in 1911, President of the Senate in 1912, and Acting Governor in 1912; President of the New Jersey Civil Service Commission, 1917-1921. From 1921 to 1926 Professor Prince served as United States
viii
VITA
Minister to Denmark, and from 1926 to 1933 as United States Minister to Yugoslavia. Professor Prince has received the following decorations: The Order of St. Saba, I I Class, Serbia, 1912; the Order of Polonia Restituta, I I Class, Poland, 1924; the Grand Cross of the Danneborg, Denmark, 1933; Grand Cordon of the Yugoslav Crown, Yugoslavia, 1933. Professor Prince is a member of m a n y learned societies, including the American Philosophical Society; he is a Life Trustee of the American Scandinavian Foundation; a Life Member of the New York Historical Society and of the American Oriental Society; and a Life Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences. He is also a voluminous pamphleteer on philological subjects, as well as the author of numerous other scientific works and musical compositions.
CONTENTS JOHN DYNELEY PRINCE From ike Photograph by Blank and Sioller
Frontispiece Corporation
FOREWORD BY NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER VITA, J O H N DYNELEY PRINCE THE HYMN TO BfeLIT
V vii I
SUMERIAN AS A LANGUAGE
30
THE VERBAL P R E F I X E S AND I N F I X E S IN SUMERIAN
5I
AN AKKADIAN CRUCIFORM MONUMENT
67
TATAR MATERIAL IN OLD RUSSIAN
86
SLAV AND CELT
102
A NOTE ON KALMUKS IN BELGRADE
11 2
THE GOTTSCHEE GERMANS OF SLOVENIA
118
THE DANISH DIALECT OF BORNHOLM
126
A TEXT IN J E R S E Y DUTCH
145
A BRAZILIAN GYPSEY DIALECT
151
NOTES ON THE LANGUAGE OF THE E A S T E R N ALGONKIN TRIBES
157
SOME FORGOTTEN INDLAN PLACE NAMES IN T H E ADIRON'DACKS
165
A TALE I N THE HUDSON RIVER INDIAN LANGUAGE
172
AN ANCIENT N E W J E R S E Y INDIAN JARGON
186
SERMO POPULI
207
CONTENTS
X
CONGRATULATORY L E T T E R S LETTER
FROM
THE
HON.
21 X CHARLES
EVANS
HUGHES,
CHIEF
J U S T I C E OF T H E S U P R E M E COURT OF T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S LETTER
FROM
THE
HON.
HENRY
L.
STIMSON,
FORMER
S E C R E T A R Y OF S T A T E OF T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S L E T T E R FROM T H E HON. J O S E P H S . F R E L I N G H U Y S E N , U N I T E D S T A T E S SENATOR FROM N E W J E R S E Y T H E W O R K S OF J O H N D Y N E L E Y P R I N C E
211
211 FORMER 213
215
F R A G M E N T S FROM
BABEL
T H E H Y M N T O BE L I T B R I T . M U S . , K . 257 ( H T . , P A G E S
126—131)'
T
H I S T E X T , which is one of the most difficult of the Sumerian hymns, has, so far as I am aware, never been published before. Professor Haupt made his version of the inscription from a copy furnished him by Mr. Pinches, which Professor Haupt carefully compared with the original text written in Babylonian characters (see HT. p. 131). The version in HT. is given for the convenience of the student in Assyrian transliteration. The British Museum has several duplicates of K. 257, viz.: K. 5122, K. 4968, and K. 4634 (see ZK. II; 69). I regret that I have been unable to obtain copies of these texts, which might shed some additional light on the interpretation of the hymn. Similar texts are K. 2004 and the inscription published in Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum, Part XV, plates 24-25; see Pinches's remarks in PSBA., November 12, 1902, p. 307. The hymn reminds us also of Reisner's Sumerian Hymns in the Berlin Museum (in Mitteilungen aus der orientalischen Sammlungen, Teil 10, Berlin, 1896). The student should also examine for comparison Dr. Banks's Dissertation, Sumerisch-Babylonische Hymnen, Leipzig, 1897. 1
Reprinted from the Journal 0} the American Oriental Society, XXIV (1903), 103-128. The following abbreviations are used in this article: AJSL. = American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature; AL' = Delitsch, Assyrische Leseslücke, 3d ed.; Deutsche Litztg. Deutsche Literaturzeitung; EK = Eme-ku; ES = £me-sal; HT = Haupt's Texts; Hwb. = Delitzsch, Handwörterbuch; JBL = Journal of Biblical Literature; KB = Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek; LTP = Lötz, Tiglath Pilesar; Nerigl. = Neriglisar; PSBA = Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology; Sarg. Cyl. = Sargon Cylinder; Sa. = Syllabary a; Sb. = Syllabary b; Sc. = Syllabary c; Sfg. = Sumerische Forschungen; ZA = Zeitschrift für Assyriologie; Zb. = Zimmern, Busspsalmen; ZK = Zeitschrift für Keilschrifte.
2
T H E H Y M N TO B f i L I T
The hymn K. 257 is important from two points of view. It presents a philologically interesting text in the Eme-sal dialect, whose existence and phonetic characteristics were first pointed out by Professor Haupt (Nachrichten der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göltingen, 1880, pp. 513-541, and HT. pp. 133 ff.), and it affords a field for speculation with regard to its mythological concepts. Weissbach in his Sumerische Frage, pp. 52 ff., however, mentions the names of some Assyriologists who suspected the presence of the Eme-sal dialect of Sumerian before Haupt definitely established the fact of its existence. In view of the peculiar character of this hymn and in spite of the difficulties under which I have labored because of my inability to procure copies of the duplicate texts, I venture to present a translation and philological exposition which may pave the way for future investigations in this interesting field. I am indebted to Professor Haupt for valuable bibliographical material in connection with this inscription. Mr. S. H. Langdon has joined me during the past session at Columbia University in a special study of K. 257 and similar texts, and I owe to him several suggestions which have been duly mentioned in the following treatise. It is now generally accepted that Eme-sal is the non-Semitic designation for a variation of the Sumerian language (cf. Hommel, Semiten I, 280; Weissbach, op. cit., p. 175). These texts in variant form were called "Akkadian" by Hommel, Delitzsch, Zimmern, and others, and "Sumerian" by Haupt. It is unnecessary here to enter into the details of the Sumerian dialect question, which have been admirably set forth by Weissbach in his Sumerische Frage, pp. 55-61. The fact seems to be that in the non-Semitic texts Eme-ku means burner, i. e., Babylonia, another synonym for which is Kingi, which is given as the equivalent of Sumer especially, and of "land" in general, as they naturally regarded Sumer as the land par excellence (Br. 9662). This application of Eme-ku is now definitely established by Bezold's discovery of the fragment 81-7-27, 130 (ZA. IV, 434), i. e., eme-ku = li-Sa-an Su-me-ri "the language
T H E H Y M N TO B f i L I T
3
of Sumer." There can be no doubt that ku in this combination was considered to be a distinctive designation, either racial or descriptive. This happy discovery makes it perfectly patent, moreover, that the Assyrians both knew and mentioned the Sumerian language. Owing to the undoubted distinction between Eme-ku and Eme-sal, I have used in this article the former term to denote the ordinary "classical" Sumerian. Weissbach {op. cit., pp. 176-177), in order to connect the Assyrians' Sumerian language with the non-Semitic idiom which we know as Sumerian, points out that the word Kingi, as already indicated above, is synonymous with burner. The inhabitants of Kingi = burner were therefore "the Sumerians," and the language which belongs to Kingi was "Sumerian." Since, then, this Kingi always appears in the non-Semitic column of bilingual cuneiform inscriptions, we are justified in naming the iodim of this non-Semitic column "Sumerian." Thus far Weissbach. Inasmuch as ku in the combination Eme-ku = liSan Sumeri has evidently a distinctive sense, either racial or characteristic, we may assume that sal in Eme-sal had a similar signification. The whole difficulty lies in the correct interpretation of ku and sal, for neither of which terms can we find a satisfactory racial or geographical sense. Ku has a number of more or less exalted Assyrian equivalents, such as belu, "lord," Br. 10525 (cf. also Br. 10535 = "the god Marduk"); rubu, "prince," Br. 10547 passim, (cf. ku = "the god Sin," Br. 10549); secondary meanings are tamu, "to adjure," Br. 10555; talritu, "dedication," Br. 10556, and temu, "counsel, wise speech," Br. 10557. The most characteristic meanings of sal, on the other hand, are "woman," zinniltu, Br. 10920, and uru, "pudendum muliebre," Br. 10919 and 10927 (sal-la = qalla, mug, sal). Are we then to assume that Eme-sal was a speech peculiar to women as distinct from Eme-ku, the language of the lords, or princes, or the speech of wise counsel, i. e., the language of the higher laws and religion? The Eme-sal texts are many of them devout hymns like K. 257, showing a high religious tone. Why should these have been in the "women's language," as Haupt names the Eme-sal, Sintfluth-
4
T H E H Y M N TO B f i L I T
bericht, pp. 22 f.? It is, of course, possible to cite parallels for a "women's tongue" among other peoples. Thus the Carib women of the Antilles used a different language from that of their husbands, while the Eskimo women of Greenland to this day have certain distinctive pronunciations (cf. Sayce, Introduction to the Science of Language, I, 205). In spite of this fact, however, we find no allusions in the Assyro-Babylonian inscriptions to such a state of affairs, which could arise only among very primitive peoples accustomed to long hunting trips, during which the women were necessarily separated from the men for months at a time. We must suppose that so soon as a higher civilization prevailed, as was the case in the very earliest days in the Euphrates valley, such a sexual speechdifferentiation would disappear within a single generation. On this account I cannot think that the sex of the original speakers of Eme-ku and Eme-sal had anything to do with the nomenclature of these idioms. I t is much more probable that Eme-ku, "language of the lords" or "princes" or "language of counsel," and Eme-sal, "tongue of the women," were applied to the respective speech-forms in a purely metaphorical sense at a comparatively late date. I suggest that Eme-ku, "the noble tongue," was so called owing to its stronger system of phonetics, and that Eme-sal, "the womanly speech," simply alluded to the softer intonations of this dialect, which, for example, avoided the hard g-sound as much as possible, changing it to m, b and d. The Eme-sal also preferred the umlaut e to u, changed z to 5, s to z, and n to I, and so on (see Haupt's masterly treatment of this subject, HT. 134, 2). It was no doubt owing to its phonetic softness that the ES. dialect seemed to the early Babylonian scribes especially suitable for penitential hymns. In the meantime, until further light comes to us from the monuments, I fully concur with Weissbach, op. cit., p. 177, that the dialectic non-Semitic Eme-sal should simply bear this name and not any term which commits us to a definite theory. Any tribal or geographical distinction between Eme-ku and Eme-sal has yet to
T H E H Y M N TO
BfiLIT
5
be discovered. The equation Eme-ku = Ulan humeri, "the language of Sumer" or Babylonia, does not imply that Eme-sal was not also spoken in Sumer! At first sight the subject matter of K. 257 would seem to indicate that the goddess Belit, to whose praise the hymn is devoted, was a bisexual deity. In 22-24 obviously, she is made to exclaim: "I am Bel (Enlilld) and Belit (Ninlilld)." So the Assyrian line 24, which seems to me to give the correct translation of the Sum. in 22 (see Commentary on this passage). Professor Barton, in the JBL. XX, 23-24, gives two examples of what might be regarded as parallel cases; that of the west Semitic deities Melek-Astart and EshtnunAstart, whom he considers to be composite gods of both sexes. On the other hand, a closer examination of K. 257 shows that such a supposition with regard to our inscription is unnecessary, as our goddess is simply claiming universality. She calls herself in this hymn the daughter of Bel, 20 and 72 obv., the daughter of Sin, 73/74 obv., and the consort of Ea, 75 obv., although Belit is usually known as the consort of Bel (see below and Jastrow, Religion, p. 226). There can be little doubt that there was no fixed mythological conception regarding the relation of Belit to the pantheon, as the Assyrians also knew her, both as the wife of their peculiar god Alur, and as the mate of Ea, as whose spouse she is mentioned in our hymn (cf. Sarg. Cyl. 48 and the parallel, Lyon, Sargontexte, p. 71). She was also called by the Assyrians belit ilani, "the mistress of the gods" (so also in K. 257, 12/13, obv.). A great deal of the confusion with regard to Belit no doubt arose from the fact that beltu meant "lady," and hence was applicable to any goddess. By far the most curious part of our inscription are the passages describing the destructive power of Belit, 25-34 obv. She is evidently at war with and conquers other gods "of the mountain," 45/46 obv., i. e., of the Babylonian universe, and it is distinctly stated, 57/58 obv., that she makes war in heaven. In the reverse 11-22, the same idea is expressed that she is the all-powerful destructive influence who not only overthrows the gods, but also
6
T H E H Y M N TO B f i L I T
rebellious humanity. From 1 obv.-22 rev. the whole tone of the hymn is that of a song of praise to a warrior goddess. The lines 23-30 rev., which allude to metals, are too mutilated to interpret consecutively, but they seem to imply her power over the inanimate world as well, no doubt in her capacity as a fire deity, as she is expressly stated to be in 11-12 rev. From 31-72 rev. another phase of Belit's power is treated, although unfortunately in a very fragmentary text. Here the goddess undoubtedly appears as the patroness of sexual intercourse and parturition. The allusions to "the girl" (31/32) and "the man" (33/34), and to "the man and the woman" (47/54 rev.), taken in connection with the significant expressions "to open the house" (55/56 rev.), and "not to open the house" (57/58 rev.), and "the virgin" (?) in 59/60, show very plainly the general sense of this part of the hymn. Belit controls the personal attraction of one sex to the other; she presides at the opening of the house, i. e., the act of copulation; she brings forth "the strength out of the house," 61/62 rev., viz., the semen hominis, and "as the (divine) wife" regulates the passions of the male (67-70 rev.). Finally, 72-73 rev., she ordains the time of birth for the expectant mother. There can be no doubt as to the composite character of the goddess of this hymn. She is the old Belit of the earlier Babylonian conceptions, as may be seen from her association with "the mountain." The Babylonian Belit or Ninlilld was called Ninxar-sag "lady of the mountain," because Bel, her husband, as the chief of the gods, was especially associated with this "mountain of the lands" (see Jastrow, op. cit., pages 55-56). The goddess of our inscription is not only this Belit, but also I Star in her double personality of the goddess of battle and the goddess of sexual love. This fact is emphasized by her calling herself "the daughter of Sin," who was the father of the real Iltar. The warlike I Star is not an Assyrian concept, but goes back as far as the time of Hammurabi (KB. I l l , 1, 113). IStar in the GilgameS-Epic, as is well known, is a raging deity who smites her foes with plagues. The
T H E H Y M N TO B Ê L I T
7
destructive characteristics of our Bêlit, set forth 11 ff. rev., are precisely those of the Iltar of the GilgameS-Epic. I Star was, of course, the mother of all mankind and the goddess of sexual love and parturition. I might add also that Bêlit in this inscription assumes to herself the attributes of Gibil, the fire-god ; cf. 11 ff. rev. Here we must note a very important point. In one Assyrian passage, Rassam Cyl. B. col. v., 17, IStar is called the daughter of Bel, and Jastrow (Religion, p. 205, n. 3) thinks that this must be a textual error. But this statement is characteristic of our present inscription, as I have mentioned already. The four times repeated assertion of K. 257 that Ninr-lil is the "daughter of Bêl," 14-15; 18-19; 71-72; 73-74 obv., shows definitely that this idea must have been one of the variant conceptions, although not a usual one, regarding the parentage of this goddess, and moreover confirms the parallel in the Rassam Cylinder just cited. The confusion of the original Babylonian Bêlit with IStar is well known and need excite little remark (see Jastrow, Religion, pp. 226 ff.). The most extraordinary feature of the hymn, K. 257, is the warfare of the goddess Bêlit with "the gods of the mountain," 43 obv. I can find no parallel for this statement in the other cuneiform literature except in the tales of the early cosmology, where the feminine Tiâmat fights unsuccessfully with the great gods under Bêl-Marduk. I am therefore inclined to think that the rebellious "goddess of the water," 53/54 obv., whom Bêlit subdues may be a confused later allusion to the Tiâmat-myth (?). The goddess's statement, 37/38 obv., that she "washes her hands at the mountain spring of Dilmun," probably an island near Bahrein in the Persian Gulf, serves still further to establish her connection with southern Babylonia. To sum up, we should note the following points in this connection. 1. We have here a composite deity. The old Babylonian Bêlit, associated with the Persian Gulf, fights with certain gods of the mountain, which is perhaps here a reference to the abode of the primitive chaotic deities who sided with Tiâmat, although such
8
T H E H Y M N TO
BfiLIT
a usage is surprising. This is clearly a case of absorption by the feminine Belit of the chief characteristics of Bel-Mardukl This Belit is also Iitar in both her forms as shown above and the fire-god Gibil. 2. The inscription was perhaps of Assyrian origin, judging from the fact that Belit is called the daughter of Bel, a genealogical assertion which appears, so far as I am aware, only in the Rassam Cylinder cited above. On the other hand, this genealogy of Belit may have been of Babylonian origin. Finally, the universal characteristics and dominion claimed by our Belit are worthy of attention. She is not only Belit, but also Bel. She is not only the daughter of Bel, but also of Sin, 73/14: obv., and the consort of Ea, 75-76 obv. She is destructive and at the same time productive. She is the flaming fire of death and the fosterer of love and birth. Nowhere do we find a better example than here of henotheism merging into monotheism. The inscription is worthy to stand among the best efforts of the ancient AssyroBabylonian hymnologists. HT. p. 126. No. 21 (K. 257) OBVERSE
1. 2. 3. 4 5. 6 7. 8 9. 10 11. 12. 13. 14.
. . . be-lit . . . .. . me-(e-nu-men) . . . (be-il-) turn {ul ana-ku-u) me-(e-nu-men) {be-il-) turn {ul ana-ku-u) me-e-(nu-men) {ru-)ba>-tum {ul ana-ku-u) me-e-nu-(men) ru-ba-tum {ul ana-ku-u) me-e-nu-(men) be-il-tum Uu . . . . {ul ana-ku-u) (dim-)me-ir-e-ne me-e-nu-(men umun-e-ne) {Hani ul ana-ku-u) be-lit-{Su-nu). (me-e-nu-)men tu-mu dimmtr Mu-ul-lil-la
T H E H Y M N TO B Ê L I T
9
15. ul ana-ku-u mar-ti Uu . . . 16. umun-mên me-nu-mên me-e tumu-sag 17. be-ili-ku ul ana-ku-u ana-ku qar-ra-{du). 18. umun-an-na-mên me-e-nu-mên tu-mu ur-sag dimmèr Mu-ul-(lil-lâ) 19. iS-ta-ri-tum ul ana-ku-u mar-tum qa-rit-um Uu . . . ana-ku. 20. tu-mu mug (P)-sag-gâ dimmtr Mu-ul-lil-lâ 21. mar-tum a-Sa-rit-tum la Uu . . . ana-ku. 22. dimmêr En-lil-lâ-mên dimmtr Nin-lil-lâ 23. Uu En-lil ana-ku Sa Uu Nin-lil. 24. ("" En-lil-ku) u Nin-lil. 25. a lu-lû-a-mu nu-si-gi 26. me-e ad-dal-xu ul i-zak-ku-u. 27. bil êl-la-mu nu-te-en 28. i-Sa-tu ul-tax-xa-zu ul i-bi-el-li 29. é-an-na é-ki-a su-mu-ta-ni (in-si-si) 30. É-a-a-ak-e-dimmêr-li ana qa-ti-ia u-ma-al-(li). 31. êri êr-ra-mu sag an-ku nu-el 32. a-li ai-tal-lum ri-is-su ul in-na-aS-(H) 33. e-ne-am-max dug-ga-mu ki-bal-a-ni gui 34. a-mat ki-bi-ti-ia qir-tum mât nu-kur-tum qa-lum u-ab-bat. 35. tulbur kur-ra-kit im-gé-nu im-mi-mêr 36. ina bur-ti Sa-di-i qa-du-tu am-xu-ux. 37. tulbur kur ni-tuk-ki-ka sag-ga a-ba-ni-in-(Iax) 38. ina bur-ti Sa-di-i Dil-mun qa-qa-du am-si. 39. 1 e-gi-zag-ga-ka zag sal u-ba-ni-in-(dug-ga) 40. ina i-gi-za-an-gi-e uk-ta-an-ni. 41. umun-mên sab-sab-ba gu (ka) u-ba-ni-in-(dê) 42. be-ili-ku ina qab-lu a-Sa-as-si-ma. 43. sab kur-ra-kit gu(ka) u-ba-ni-in-(dê) 44. ina qa-bal Sa-di-i a-(Sa-as-si-ma). 45. dim-me-ir kur-ra ni-gil-li-ag-gi 46. ilâni Sa Sa-di-i it-ta-na-an-gi-ri-(ni) 47. xar-ra-an kur-ra dim-me-ir kur-ra i-de-mu-ku in-dib-bi 48. ina u-ru-ux Sa-di-i ilâni Sa Sa-di-i ana max-ri-ia i-ba-(u).
10 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78.
T H E H Y M N TO
BÉLIT
bar-bara-ga-(e)-ne mu-un-da-ab-sig-sig-gi a-Sib pa-rak-ki i-ru-bu-u-ni; i-xi-Su-ni; i-nar-ru-du-nim-{ma). bar-bara- . . . -u§ aè-a-an mu-un-da-làx-làx-e a-Ub pa-rak-ki kib-sa iS-ten i-ri-id-du-ni; Sa-(xu-tu)? mulu lui ni-me a mu-un-na-ab-bi-e Ja sar-rat mi i-qab-bu-ni. umun-mén mu-lu lul-la é-a mi-ni-ib-tu-(ri) be-li-ku sa-ar-tu ana biti u-le-ir-ri-ib. su-èl-la-mu an-na ba-na-ab-e-(US = TIL) . . . . ni-iS qa-ti~ia Sam-e e-mid e-mu-qa-a-a Sa-qa-tu Sam-e im-da(:xa-qu). umun-mèn su-mu-ta Su di-a nu-ma-(al) be-ili-ku it-ti qa-ti-ia qàtu Sa iS-Sa-an-na-nu ul i-ba-aS-Si. me-ri él-la-mu ki-a ba-e-til (tal-lak-tum) Sa-qu-tum ir-qi-ti gam-rat. umun-mèn (me-ri)-mu-ta me-ri di-a nu-ma-al be-ili-ku it-ti Se-pi-ia ìe-pu Sa iS-Sa-an-(nu-na) ul i-ba-ai-H. i-de-mu-ka a-ba-a-an bar-mu-ku a-ba-a-an ina pa-ni-ia man-nu ina ar-ki-ia ma-an-nu. (idè)-ku èl-la-(mu) a-ba ba-ra-(è) ina ni-iS i-ni-{a man-nu uq-qu (in-)du-mu a-ba ba-ra-Sub-bu ina {pi-it pu-)ri-di-\a man-nu ip-pa-ral-lid. tumu-max di-da dimmtr Mu-ul-lil-la me-en mar-tum (qir-tum di-ni) Sa "" . . . ana-ku. gal-(di) a-a-mu dimmtr En-zu-na me-en ti-iz-{qar-)tum a-bi-ia Uu Sin ana-ku. umun-mèn sal-dug-ga dimm!r Nu-dim-mud-da me-en be-ili-ku (tak-)nit "u . . . ana-ku. xi-bi-eS-Su el u mu-un-el-la. (e-na) a-na-aS-si (la-bi-)ra a-na-aS-H. REVERSE
1. (lu?gal-)ra èl-la-mu-un-na-ab-èl-la 2. Sar-ra a-ta-a u-Sa-aS-Si.
T H E H Y M N TO B Ê L I T 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23 24 25 26 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37.
11
siba-ra-mu-mên xi-bi mu-un-na-ab-si-âm-mâ xi-bi-eS-Su a-nam-din. sa-a i-de-mên sa-a a-ba-mên li-max-ru ana-ku li ar-ku ana-ku. umun-mên sa-par-max xi-bi lil-lâ su-ru-na-mên be-ili-ku (sa-par-)ra çi-i-ri ina çi-e-ri za-qi-qi Sur-bu-ça-at ana-ku. sa-(par gil-)li an-na-(edin-na) xi-bi . . . -lâ mên. (lé/M it~qur-)tum Sa ina çi-rim xi-bi-eS-Su . . . -at ana-ku. bfl sar-sar-da êl xi-bi-eS-Su lâ mên i-Sa-tum na-pi-ix-tum Sit-bu-tum ana-ku. bfl sar-sar-da kur-ra-ga ba-sig-kab-du-ga mên i-Sa-tum na-pi-ix-tum Sa ina ki-rib Sad-i iS-Sa-ra-pu ana-ku. u-bu-bu te-tal-la ki-bal-a sek-mâ-mên Sanap-lu-Sa mut-lab-ri-tum ana mât nu-kur-li iz-za-nu-nu ana-ku. sul ka-tar-ra-ra ka-a-Su ne-mên Sa id-lu mud-dal-lum pa-si-sat pi-Su ana-ku. me-ri-an-§u-êl-la ki-a dib-dib-bi mên Sa taV-lak-ta-Su Sa-qa-lum mu-qas-si-is-su ana-ku. gaba-ûr-ga-( )-ra xarran nu-si-âm-mâ {Sa) xa-mi-im i-ra-a-tum ur-xa ul a-nam-(din). âm-u mên âm-mâ zabar-ra -Su a-na-ku ana-ku a-na-ak si-par-ri . . . . -par-ku Sa-qu-tum ana-ku Sa-qu-tum na-mir-(tum) ana-ku. mên am-u mên lu-mâ-du-dû (umun-)an-na mên am-u mên . . . . du-dû Uu iS-ta-ri-tum ana-ku ri-ib. âm-u zabar-ra . . . . a-na-ak si-par-ri Sa ana . . . . gi-in-bi u-um-tag-ga . . . . am-ta a-la-ap-pat-ma am-ta « . . . mu-lu-bi û-um-tag-ga . . . . a-me-lu a-lap-pat-ma a-(me-la) . . . . é mu-un-tu-ri-en-na-mu (é mulu çi-ib-mar) . . . . bîti e-ter-bu bit a-mi-li e-da-(ab) . . . . mu-lu a-an (da?) mar-en-na-mu . . . .
T H E H Y M N TO
12
38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69 70. 71
BÊLIT
a-mi-el ix-ti-Su-Su; ix-taS . . . . i-de-ku al-dim . . . . ina max-ri al-lak-ma . . . . a-ba-ku al-di-di . . . . ar-ki al-lak-ma mu-da- . . . . zi-da kab-bu-ku ni- . . . . im-na ana Su-(me-li) . . . . kab-bu zi-da-ku ni- . . . . Su-me-(li) {ana) im-ni mu-tin -mu-(tin)-a-ku mu-ni- . . . . zi-ka-ri (ana) zin-niS-lum . . . . nu- -mu-tin-a-ku nu-ni- . . . . zin-niS-tum ana zi-(ka)-ri . . . . mu-tin nu- -a-ku se-ir-ka . . . . Sa zi-ka^ri ana zin-niS-tum . . . . nu- -mu-tin-a-ku se-ir-ka . . . . zin-niS-tum ana zi-ka-ri . . . . e-ma (gál)-la é xi-bi (bîtu) pi-ti-i . . . . é nu-ma-(gal-)la sar-da- . . . . bîtu la pi-ti-i . . . . dim-me ma-má-a . . . . u-diS-li . . . . xi-bi-el> -si é-ta im-ta-an-(ê) e-muq-tum iS-tu bi-it u-Se-iç-ça- (a) me-e dam-dam-ta mu-un-na-ab- . . . . ana-ku aS-ia-tu . . . . umun-mên tumu ama-da mu-un-na-ab- . . . . be-ili-ku mar-ti it-ti um-mi-lu da-ga- . . . . gud-gud-du GlS-I-?-BI Sa u-ru e-lu-ti . . . . -da BAD-P-BI Sa u-ru Sap-lu-(li) . . . . ?
?
SU-LU-SU-AN
T H E H Y M N TO B f i L I T
13
72. sa par-ri-is-ku ar-(ka lu i-li [?]) 73. u-bi ama sux-a-bi (ka mu-un-na-ab-de[?]) TRANSLATION OBVERSE
1. 2/3. 4/5. 6/7. 8/9. 10/11. 12/13. 14/15. 16/17. 18/19. 20/21. 22. 23. 24. 25/26. 27/28. 29/30. 31/32. 33/34.
35/36. 37/38. 39/40. 41/42. 43/44. 45/46. 47/48.
the lady of (am I not the lady?) (am I not the lady?) (am I not the great one?) (am I not) the great one? the lady, the god . . . . (am I not?) (of the) gods am I not (their lady?) Am I not the daughter of Bel? I am supreme, am I not? I am the warrior (masc.). Am I not the goddess? The warlike daughter of Bel am I. The high-placed daughter of Bel am I. I am En-lil-la, Nin-lil-ld, (I am En-lil) of Nin-lil. (I am En-lil) and Nin-lil. The waters which I stir up do not become clear. The fire which I kindle does not go out. The House of Heaven, the House of Earth, unto my hand he has entrusted. The city which I plunder is not restored. The utterance of my exalted command destroys the land of the foe. (Assyr. At the utterance . . . . [my] hand destroys, etc.). At the mountain spring I fill the vessel. At the mountain spring of Dilmun I wash (my) head. By the igizangi stone I am guarded. I am supreme. In the midst I shout my war cry; In the midst of the mountain I shout my war cry. The gods of the mountain are hostilely inclined. On the road of the mountain, the gods of the mountain approach me with hostile intent.
14
T H E H Y M N TO B f i L I T
49/50. The royal beings (dwellers in palaces) enter before me: hasten unto me: they afflict me. 51/52. The dwellers in the palaces with one accord come down unto me. 53/54. The rebellious goddess of the water shouts at me. 55/56. I am supreme. I will cause the rebellious goddess to enter the house. 57/58. I establish the lifting up of my hands to heaven; my exalted powers make war in heaven. 59/60. I am supreme. The hand of him who vies with me shall not stand with my hand. 61/62. My mighty pace fills the earth. 63/64. I am supreme. The foot of him who vies with me shall not stand with my foot. 65/66. Who is there before me? Who is there behind me? 67/68. From the lifting up of mine eyes who can escape? 69/70. From the rush of my onslaught who can flee? 71/72. The exalted daughter of the judgment of Bel I am. 73/74. The noble heroine of my father Sin I am. 75/76. I am supreme. The duly appointed spouse (?) of Ea I am. 77/78. Him who is bowed down I lift up; the aged one I lift up. REVERSE
1/2. 3/4. 5/6. 7/8. 9/10. 11/12. 13/14. 15/16.
Verily, I will raise up the king. To my shepherd . . . . I will give. Verily, I am before; verily, I am behind. I am supreme. An exalted net spread out in the wilderness (field of the storm wind) I am. ? ? ? which in the field (is spread) I am. A glowing fire flaming forth I am. A glowing fire which burns in the midst of the mountains I am. I am the one who, full to overflowing with its flame, rains down on the foeman's land.
T H E H Y M N TO B f i L I T
15
17/18. The one who makes as naught the speech of the humbled warrior I am. 19/20. The one who cuts off him whose way is haughty in the land I am. 21/22. To those who store up proud thoughts (?) I give not the way (do not permit to advance with impunity). 23/24. . . . lead I am. Lead alloyed with copper (I am). 25. The lofty . . . . I am. The lofty one, the glowing one I am. 26. Lead I am. The maker (?) of . . . . (I am). 27/28. I am the goddess who . . . . 29/30. Lead alloyed with copper, which unto . . . . 31/32. The girl I disturb, the girl and . . . . 33/34. The man I disturb, the (man) . . . . 35/36. The house which I enter, the house of the man I trouble. 37/38. the man who ? ? ? ? 39/40. I will go before 41/42. I will go behind . . . . 43/44. Right to left 45/46. Left to right . . . . 47/48. The man unto the woman . . . . 49/50. The woman unto the man . . . . 51/52. That which the man unto the woman . . . . 53/54. The woman unto the man . . . . 55/56. To open the house . . . . 57. Not to open the house . . . . 59/60. The virgin (?) 61/62. The strength out of the house I bring forth. 63/64. I as the wife . . . . 65/66. I am supreme. The daughter with her mother I . . . . 67/68. The one who the erect member . . . . 69/70. The one who the low member . . . . 71/72. That which I have planned (in future shall come to pass). 73. On that day (?) to the mother I foretell her time . . . . (i. e., of her bearing).
16
T H E H Y M N TO
BfiLIT
COMMENTARY OBVERSE
I have supplied the first fourteen lines from the context of the subsequent text. 14/15. Ul anaku with interrogative final -u is a question "am I not?" cf. Delitzsch, Gr. § 79 7 ; Hommel,2 Semiten, p. 505 ad p. 95; HAS., p. xxxix, B. d'mmtr Mullilld, clearly an assimilation for Munlilld which is the well known ES. form for EK. i i % l " Enlilld = Uu Bel. Enlttld was evidently pronounced Illilla, as is clear from V. 37, 21a and Damasc. "IXXivos (cf. Zb. 19). 16. Umun, ES. for ugun, V. 37, 34 abc; u-gu-nu = beltu. ES. m frequently appears for EK. g; cf. gdl (IK) = ES. ma-al "to be"; EK. garza = ES. marza "command" (HT. 134, § 2). There can be no doubt that DU here is a form of writing men, the element of the verb "to be." In Sc. 284, we find gi-in = DU = a-na-ku, which would seem to indicate the g pronunciation for this sign DU; but since ES. frequently avoids the g-sound (HT. 134 § 2), it is highly probable that DU in an ES. text must have had the value men = gin, Sc. 284; especially as me-en occurs in our text, 71, 73, 75 obv. = anaku. Haupt has already pointed out that men is not necessarily the first person and the same is undoubtedly true of DU = gin, men; cf. AL. 3 135, 11/12: DU = atti "thou" (fem.). DU = gin and men may be used for all three persons indiscriminately, the distinctive signs of the first and second persons mae and zae respectively, or the noun suffixes -mu "my," -zu "thy," being always given, as in AL.3 p. 135, 1-5 obv. In the case of our present inscription it may be supposed that a distinctive first personal sign occurred in one of the earlier mutilated lines of the obverse. In me-nu-men, we have a repetition of the stem me "to be" which must be the equivalent of the interrogative -u in Assyrian. 17. The neg. -MM- is infixed as in EK. giS-nu-un-tuk = ul ilme "he heard not," V. 24, 38a et passim. Me-e stands for anaku, 1
Also p. 507 ad p. 292.
T H E H Y M N TO B f i L I T
17
but it may also be second person, cf. Sfg. 22 addamu numea = ul abi atta. In DL. 3 p. 91, B, ki-me-ta = ittini "with us." On me = tne-en, cf. also ZA. I, 192, and Hommel, Semiten, pp. 470, 175. 17. Beliku is a permansive "I am supreme," applicable to either gender. That ni = Hi is seen Sfg. p. 61, n. 5. Cf. s. v. 56 obv. Qarra(du) masc. is unusual as applied to a goddess; cf. 19 obv. qariltum and s. v. 22-24 obv. 19. For iStaritum, without the god-sign, cf. AL. 3 134, IStarPsalm, obv. 4. In 27 rev. the word is written with ilu. Qarittum here is properly feminine; cf. Hwb. 595b. 20. Mug(?)-sag-ga for alarittum is probably an error. The EK. ideogram is sag-kal, passim. In ES. we find i-de-ei-du, Nbk. ii. 2 = alaridu. In mug{?)-sag-ga, sag-ga is no doubt a variant of zag = asdridu, 39, obv. q. v. 22-24. These lines are excessively difficult. The Sumerian seems to mean "I am Bel (and) Belit," although the copula is unexpressed. I believe that the Assyr. lines 23-24 are tentative translations on the part of the scribe. Line 23, " I am Bel of Belit," makes apparently no sense. Line 24, however, of which the first part is supplied, probably gives the true rendering (see above, Introduction). In 24 Enlil-ku, we seem to have an Assyrian permanent form as in beliku, 17. The copula u here is perfectly clear. 25. In lu-lu-a-mu, the -mu is not necessarily the sign of the first person, although here the context demands the first person. This -mu is the sign of the relative clause in Sumerian probably indicating all three persons. Cf. IV. 30, 4a: ursaggal kigim siggamu = qarradu rabu Sa kima irqitim retu "the hero who is as firmly fixed as the earth." Cf. also IV. 27, no. 1, 4-11, where we find a succession of -mu clauses, all third person relative. A similar case is seen in HT. 122, obv. 16: erizuku aggigga akdmu — ana ardiki Sa marultum ib$u "unto thy (fem.) servant who has sickness." It is evident, however, that this -mu can indicate the first person also, as may be seen from the line under discussion as well as from
18
T H E H Y M N TO
BfiLIT
27-28 obv.: bil ellamu "the fire which I kindle"; eri erramu "the city which I plunder." This relative participial construction reminds us of Turkish: as bu gordiyim kitab dir, "this is the book which I saw." In the Turkic tongues, however, the persons are carefully distinguished by suffixes in these relative participles. Like the Chinese dialects, the Sumerian was lacking in this matter of distinction of the persons, a peculiarity which I hope to discuss in another article (in AJSL., July, 1903, pp. 205 f.). 26. In addalxu the relative force is expressed by the overhanging vowel -u, as in 28; 30; 32 obv. {-urn in 32 obv.). 27/28. The root el really means "lift up," i. e., "raise a fire." With te-en = balu, cf. Hammurab. Biling. 9/10; tenten = bullu, " t o extinguish"; bil tenten = kabasu Sa iSati "tread down, extinguish, said of fire," I I . 27, 48g. Tenten also means pa.Sa.xu, "soothe, pacify," II. 26, 19c. There seems to be an intentional assonance in bil ellamu and in the following eri erramu. Line 28 is cited Zb. 26, 5; cf. ZK. I. 313, n. 2. 29. Sumutani "in my hand." Here for the first time we have an unmistakable first personal suffix; i. e., -mu. The suffixes -ta and -MI here have both of them postpositional force = Assyr. ina; cf. IV. 25, 40 a: ki-azag-ga-ni-ku = ana aSar telilti; ib. 42a: ki-el-la-ani = ana aSar telilti, "unto a pure place," where -ni is equivalent to ana. I supply in-si-si = umalli (cf. Hwb. 410). 30. There is an unusual difference between this passage and the text of line 29 obv. In line 29, e-an-na e-ki-a can only mean "the house of heaven (and) the house of earth," i. e., the entire universe as understood by the Babylonians. In e-a-a-ak-e-dim-mer-ti, line 30, the combination a-ak must be a scribal error for id = nam, "river," Br. 11647. The whole probably means "the house of the water of the river, the house of the god of life" (ti = balatu, Br. 1647). This expression is unique here. It is really an inversion of the expression in line 29, i. e., "the house of heaven," line 29 = "the house of the god of life," line 30, and "the house of earth," line 29 = "the house of the water of the river," line 30. I t is per-
T H E H Y M N TO
B£LIT
19
fectly evident that the Assyr. scribe regarded the expression in line 30 as being synonymous with that in line 29. 31. Eri seems to be ES. for EK. uru = alu; cf. Sa. 3, 11 and Sfg. p. 61, n. 4. £.r is ES. for Salalu, Br. 5388. The usual EK. form is lax, Br. 4948. DU (turn) also = Salalu, Br. 4948 in EK. Note that the Sum. line here has an-ku, "unto heaven," which is not represented in Assyr. by ana Same. In aStallum, the overhanging relative vowel is -um instead of -u; cf. on line 26 obv. 33/34. E-ne-am = amatu in a number of passages, cited Br. 5871. It is undoubtedly a dialectic writing for ka = inim (EK.) as pointed out in ZA., I. 9. The extraordinary and unnecessary qatum "(my) hand" of line 34 is not represented in the Sumerian text. 35/36. The value tulbur for this sign is found II. 32, 16g; cf. Zb. p. 105. I t has also the value pu; see LTP. no. 211 and for buru, cf. ib. 169, n. i. The fem. burtu in 36 is an unusual form for buru "well" = Sumerian tulbur, pu. I am forced to read -nu as a component part of im-ge = qadutu, "an earthen vessel"; cf. V. 32, 26a; im-ge(gu) = qa-du-tum = tilu, "clay," not didu, as Br. 8401; also V. 27, 7a. Nu in our passages may mean qalmu "black," Br. 1963, but this is doubtful. For the ES. value ge (EK. gu), cf. Sfg. 51. Mer, ES. for gir = maxaxu only here. For im-mi, first person, cf. IV. 6, 45b: im-min-ri = armema. The prefix im-, like a number of other Sumerian verb prefixes, may indicate all three persons indiscriminately. 37/38. Tulbur kur Nitukkika "at the mountain spring of Dilmun" {-ka here = ina): cf. 39 and 65 obv. (also Br. 551). It is probable that -ka here serves the double purpose of the postposition and of the genitive case. It is evidently cognitive with -ku, -kit, the latter probably to be read ke, or ge. Ka also indicates the genitive relation in archaic Sumerian. I supply lax = misu, "wash," Sb. 76. A-ba is unusual in an indicative sense; cf. only Br. 6331: aba-nib-gigi-el> = uttirru and Br. 3571: sagsar aba-Hn-na-ak = itta'idma. I t may appear as an imper. of the second or third
20
T H E H Y M N TO
BfiLIT
person; cf. aba-nin-sar = rukusma, Br. 4331; aba-nin-gub = lizziz, HT. 98, 49. In these latter cases, however, it is probably a variant of the optative, xaba-. Aba- usually means mannu, "who?" See below 69/70 obv. 39/40. 1 egizagga = igizangu, found only here, may mean "the stone (i) of the pen (gi) of fate" (zangu = zag = piriStu, V. 29, 73a). Zag here must mean alarittu, fem. of alaridu "first in rank," although it is not expressed in Assyrian. Zag = alaridu, V. 29, 64a. The -ka in egizagga-ka = ina, as in line 37 obv. The allusion may be to some sacred written tablet, but the meaning is very obscure. Uklanni must be Iftaal, as is evident from sal, which must be part of the following verb, i. e., sal-dug-ga, II. 35, 45c. Kunnu means "guard, preserve"; cf. Br. 533. Our own inscription, line 75 obv., has the same combination taknitu. 41/42. Sab-lab-ba = qablu, "midst," only here in reduplicated form; cf. on 43, obv. Qablu in this passage cannot mean "battle," as it is probably a variant for la-ba = libbu, IV. 11, 15b; 20, 5. Cf. 43 obv. Gu(ka)-de is well known for lasu. This line is merely a poetical prolepsis of 43 obv., as in the case with 45/46 obv. 43/44. Here the meaning of Sab is perfectly clear. Line 43 is the complement of 41. 45/46. Ni-gil-li-dg-gi. This text seems reasonably certain. Gil in V. 16, 71c appears as equivalent to ga-ru[ ]. This must be ga-ru-u "to be hostilely inclined"; cf. garii, giru "enemy." I cannot explain the ending -ag-gi. Ittanangiri(ni), therefore, is probably Iftaneal form from garu. This passage, then, like 41/2, is simply a prolepsis of 47/8. 47/48. Xarran is a variant, perhaps ES. for E K . kaskal = xarranu, "road," Sb. 78. The Sumerian phonetic writing xar-ra-an is found also II. 38, 23c; V. 26, 2g, xarranu; and IV. 20, nr. i, obv. 12; II. 38, 24c = urxu "way." We must, I think, regard Sumerian xarran as a Semitic loan word from xarranu, which appears to be a derivative from xararu, "dig, hollow out" (cf. xurru, "hole"; xarru, "canal"). A parallel instance is suqu, "street," from sdqu,
T H E H Y M N TO B £ L I T
21
"to be narrow," or transitive, "narrow down"; cf. Sfg. 9, n. 4. Ide is, of course, ES. for ige, HT. 134; cf. 65 obv. The suffix -ku = ana; in 65 obv. it represents ina. 49. Bar here must be aHb; cf. Br. 6875; bora is undoubtedly parakku, Sb. p. 354, of which -ga is probably phonetic complement. E-ne = "those who." 50. The Assyrian translator is doubtful here, with respect to the correct rendering of sig (PA, p. 49), as he gives three variant versions: viz., "they enter before me"; "they hasten unto me"; "they afflict me," of which the latter seems to me the best, as the context plainly shows the hostile intent of the gods. For sig = naradu, cf. Br. 5583. 51/52. The break after bar-bar a is not large enough to contain e-ne, as in 49. US aS-a-an is plainly kibsa iSten, "(with) a single tread." US = kaba.su, Br. 5036, but kibsu is generally explained in Sumerian by ki-us, II. 27, 50g; V. 19, 52a; IV. 23, 50b. The usual pronunciation of the non-Semitic numeral is diS, represented by a single perpendicular wedge; aS, the horizontal wedge for "one," I find only here and in IV, 19, 46a. Lehmann, SamaHumukin, p. 128. n. 4, regards the horizontal ai-sign as a mere graphical variant for diS and considers that "one" was always pronounced diS; cf. also Jensen ZA., I, 188. The "gunation" of the perpendicular diS, however, has the value at (a perpendicular wedge crossed by three horizontals), which seems to me to confirm the value aS for "one" (cf., on the horizontal aS, Delitzsch, Entstehung, p. 69). The adverbial and verbal -a-an should be read -dm. Lax = aradu only here. The common Sumerian form is dul, IV. 3, 19/20b. The Assyrian Suxu-(tu) is very doubtful. 53/54. Lul = sarru in several passages; cf. Br. 7275. Ni-me I take as a part of the verb "to be" (me) unexpressed in Assyrian. See above on 16 obv. A must be the equivalent of Assyrian mi, probably a defective writing for mi-e, "water," Nerigl. II. 10. That the infix -nab- may be used for the first personal object is clear from II. 48, 21gh; mun-nab-siga = utanniSanni, "he weakens me." I t
22
T H E H Y M N TO
BÉLIT
usually appears as the sign of third person, as -rab- is the common infix of the second person. 55/56. Mulu lulla, lit. "the person who is rebellious." ES. mulu = EK. gèl (IK.), cf. ZA., I, 193. Neither in line 53 nor line 55 is there any indication of the fem., which might have been shown by means of sal. It is interesting to note that béliku is written here with li- instead of ni = ili, Sfg. 61, n. 5, as above, passim. 57/58. The Sumerian line is incomplete, as only the first half of it was written. I supply til = gamaru; cf. ba-e-til = garrirai, obv. 61. Til, however, has the value u$, Sb. 223, and u$ — emédu, passim, Br. 5032, as indicated here, ba-e-(til) = émid. I find the prefix ba-e only with til (u$), dirig-dirig = alaru and tuS (ku) = aiabu, so that til is probably the correct reading here. 59/60. Sa-a (DI-a) = lanànu here and 63 obv. The vocalic complement -a leads me to adopt the reading sa for DI in this passage; cf. Sa. III. 36, II. 7, 4e and Br. 9519. The usual Sumerian combination for Sananu is dadi, cf. Br. 6689, which seems to be a dissimilative reduplication of DI(?). The simple root Dl-a or sa-a in 59 is a ¿¿/-clause = Semitic relative. It is here exactly equivalent in sense to the Turkish relative participle seen in gidip, "one who goes," only in Turkish the ending -ip is necessary. Ma-(al) is ordinary ES. (Br. 6811 and 63 obv.) for EK. gal (IK), see Br. 5430. 61/62. Meri is ES. for EK. gir = lallaklum, V. 16, 25ab; cf. also HT. 134 $ 2, and below obv. 63. In the Assyrian line 62 the possessive is not expressed in tallaklum saqutum, but it appears in Sumerian ella-mu. In 62, gam-mar is of course gam-rat, as Jensen pointed out; Deutsche Litztg., 1891, col. 1451.3 63/64. Mèri here = ttpu, "foot" = EK. gir; cf. HT. p. 134, 5 2. 65/66. Idémuka; idé = EK. igé; see on 47 obv.;- ka here = ina, as in 37, 39, obv. Aba-am (a-an) = mannu; cf. on 37 obv.; -ku = ina; cf. on 67 obv. = ina and 47 obv. = ana. 67/68. The ending -ku = ina; cf. s. v. 65 obv. 69/70. The Sumerian (in-)dumu which, in spite of the broken > Cf. Hwb. p. 199 b.
T H E H Y M N TO B É L I T
23
text, evidently equals pit puridia,4 70, is very doubtful; cf. Br. 4236. Pit puridia must mean something like "the rush of my onslaught"; cf. the parallel IV. 26, 42a: ina pit puridika mannu ipparallid. In HT. 76, 15, Nusku goes to Ea in the depths of the abyss puridu (adv.). In this latter passage, the Sumerian equivalent (EK.) is gir-pap-xal-la "with the foot of compulsion"; papxal = pulqu, Sc. p. 302. Girpapxal also = etéqu, "advance, said of an army," IV., 17, 11a, and italluku "go," Br. 1154. It seems highly probable, therefore, that puridu, whose derivation is unknown, must have a similar signification. In our present text the element du of (in)-du may be equivalent to alaku, "go." The meaning of in is obscure, if indeed in is the correct reading. Sub = napariudu "flee," Br. 1439. 71/72. The EK. form tur is written here for martum, but it was probably intended to be pronounced tumu as in 18 obv.; cf. II. 37, 54e tur = du-mu (i. e., tu-mu, ZA. I. 19 and II. 48, 33a, Sa. V. 33). Max can only mean qirtum, "exalted," while dida may be a dissimilative reduplication from di = dinu "judgment"; cf. IV. 2, 3c: lugal di-da-kit = bel dtni, "lord of judgment" (also Zb. p. 83). The break in the Assyrian line 72 is quite long enough to admit the restoration martum (qirtum dtni) Sa Bel anàku, "the exalted daughter of the judgment of Bel am I." 73/74. Gal-di = tizqàru, a form like rilpàlu = zitqaru, the real meaning of which is probably "noble, prominent." The fem. tizqartum must be assumed in this passage, although it occurs nowhere else. Mr. S. H. Langdon assumes that Uu Sin here is a scribal error for "" Bel, i. e., that the scribe should have written five corner wedges (50, the symbol of Bel), instead of three (30, the sign of Sin; viz., the thirty days of the month). In view of the Sumerian d,mmir Enzuna = Sin I see no reason to adopt this emendation. Moreover, the fact that the goddess calls herself the daughter of both Bel and Sin is quite in accordance with the universality of dominion ascribed to her in the rest of the hymn. 4
Suggested also by Haupt.
24
T H E H Y M N TO B f i L I T
75/76. Saldugga can only mean taknitu here, cf. II. 35, 46c; IV. 25, 55b, which must signify "a woman taken under one's protection," perhaps "spouse" or "concubine"; cf. kinttu, "maidservant," from this same stem kunnu, and perhaps kinatu, "household retainers," Hwb. p. 338. The ending -nit in line 76 must be the final of tak-nit. I consider ri in be-ni-ri in this line to be an error for -ku, i. e., be-ili-ku, although ri is clearly written. Nu-dim-mtid, "the artificer," is of course Ea. Here it is well to note the presence of me-en for the verb "to be," in this case = anaku; cf. the remarks above on 16 obv. 77/78. Most unfortunately we are confronted with the familiar Assyrian xibiSSu of the scribe "broken off," a form like ediHu from the adverb xibeS. The stem is xipu. Owing to the Sumerian u in the second member and the Assyrian -ra, I read labtra anaHi as the equivalent of Sumerian munella. U = labiru, Br. 9465. This makes it impossible that the obscurely written e-na of the first member can be enu, "eye." It must rather be from enu, "to bow down, oppress," in parallelism with labira, "old." The Sumerian equivalent for ena may be mulu bal, as in V. 39. 27g, or simply bal, as in K. 247, ii. 20, 25. El in the first member is probably /¡¿/-phrase for the first anaSSi. REVERSE
1/2. The reverse seems to continue the sense of lines 77/78 obv. I supply lugal in Sumerian = sar-ra; cf. IV. 29, 21a, 22a, lugal = iar; viz., the sign nisigu, Br. 4286. Ella is again /¡¿¿-clause, while munnabella is the finite form with infixed object nab = "him." Assyrian a-ta-a, not expressed in Sumerian, must be the adverb, aid "verily," found in the epistolary literature as a resumptive; cf. Hwb. p. 156. 3/4. Siba-ra-mu, "to (ra) my (-mu) shepherd" (siba); men = "I am" (?). Then follows a broken passage as indicated by xibi (abbrev. for xibiSSu). MunnabsiammA plainly = anamdin. The ending -annd, ES. for agga, is difficult. Am, Sb. 205, and ammd, V. 25,
T H E H Y M N TO B f i L I T
25
22a, are Sumerian forms for madddu, "measure out, apportion." §idmmd, therefore, in our passage and in 21 rev. (q. v.) may merely be a sense reduplication of the idea of nadanu, "give, convey." This point is, however, by no means clear as yet. 5/6. I find sa-a = Assyrian li only here. Aba = arku for bar (cf. 65 obv.) is also peculiar to this passage. 7/8. Sa-par = Assyrian saparu, "net"; cf. Br. 3126. It is probably from a Semitic stem saparu, "enclose"; cf. supuru, "enclosure," Hwb. 509, and the name of the wall, Tabi-supurSu, "its enclosure is good," Zb. p. 73, n. 2. On the other hand, sa = Setu, "net," Sc. p. 142, but this may be only accidental. The probability is that the combination sa-par = letu Suparurtu, IV. 26, 23a "an arranged (i. e., spread out) net" is a non-Semitic paronomasia on Assyrian saparu. Edinna = qeri, "field," must have stood in the original text here. Lil — zaqiqi, "storm wind," Sc. p. 212 and lilla = Sdru, "wind," IV. i. col. v. 4/5, 41/42. Here we have lilla = zaqiqu. Suruna undoubtedly means Sur-buqat, but only in this passage. It may be ES. for lar-ra = rabaqu, II. 36, 24, 25ab. The $u- in Suruna is probably not the sign of the Shaphel. 9/10. Professor Haupt suggests in line 10, itqurtum. The probability is that it was preceded by Setu, "net." The Sumerian has sa and traces of the sign gil = itqurtu, K. 246, col. iv. 37, with phonetic complement -li, as indicated in the transliteration. Both the derivation and meaning of itqurtum are uncertain, see Hwb. p. 160; but the word is evidently an adjective here qualifying letu, i. e., "some sort of a net which in the field is spread am I." Edin should follow an-na; cf. anna-edinna = ina qeri, IV. 3, la. The verb is entirely obliterated except the Assyrian fem. ending -at., but it must have meant "spread." 5 11/12. For sa = napaxu, see Br. 4327. In p. 12, Sitbutum seems to me to be the Ifteal adjective from tebu, "go forth hostilely"; hence my translation. 13/14. Kur-ra-ga = ina kirib lade is very curious. We find an' Line 10 was also discussed by Jensen, ZA. I. 65.
26
T H E H Y M N TO B f i L I T
Sd-ga, K. 4386 col. iii. 56 = kirib Same, where -ga is merely the phonetic complement of $d(Sdga), "heart, midst." In our passage we expect Sd or the postposition -ta or both; ga, however, undoubtedly has the force of kirib here. Ba-sig-kab-du-ga is evidently the equivalent of iSSarapu. Ba- is, of course, the verbal prefix; sig(PA)-ga appears with bil, "fire"; bil sig-ga, II. 34, 70a = kamu must be an inaccurate writing for qamu, as ka and qa are interchangeable. In sig-kab-du-ga we clearly have a fuller form of the same combination, but I cannot explain it further. Sig{PA) = namaru, "shine" in one passage, K. 40, col. iv. 1, Br. 5582, which tends to confirm my interpretation of this sign in a combination meaning "burn." ISSarapu is probably Ifteal. 15/16. Ububu, only here, is clearly muttabritum. Tetalla = napluSa looks like a loan word from Semitic titallu, "flame." Te, however, may be read bil, "fire," and undoubtedly suggested this idea to the ancient reader. It was probably not read bil-tal-la here, as we find te-tal = titallum, K. 4361, col. i. 4. It is clearly another paronomasia, as in 7/8 rev. Sek (Se-iq) = a-an, V. 32, 21a; lit. "water of heaven" = zananu "rain"; ma is abbreviated form of mal (ES.), "to be." Muttabritum is evidently Ifteal of baru, "be full, sated." Iazanunu in HT. is clearly an error for izzanunu, ZA. I. 65/66. 17/18. Sul = edlu, passim. Katarra = muddallum from dalalu "be humble," ka-tar, IV. 29, 15b; Zb. 73/74. The second ra in our text is the postposition ana. Ka-a = pilu; su = pasasu, "destroy," only here, but Su = saxapu, "overthrow," passim, Br. 10839. With ne-men, prefix ne- for first person, cf. nerabbi = aqabbi, IV. 10, 5b et passim. For 17 rev. see also Guyard, ZK. I. 97, n. 2. 19/20. In merianSuella we have a repetition: meri = tallaktum, see above on 16 obv. An and iuella both mean high, i. e., Saqatum. Ki-a = ina ercitim, IV. 4, 5b, not expressed in Assyrian. Dib-dibbi = kamu, "bind," Br. 10683, and qabdtu, "seize," Br. 10694, passim. These meanings are closely allied to muqassisu = muqaqqiqu, "cut off," found only here.
T H E H Y M N TO
B£LIT
27
21/22. This is a very difficult passage. Gaba undoubtedly signifies iratum, probably pi. of irtu, "breast." Xamin must be participle of xamamu, "cut, harvest, store up," syn. of eqedu, because «r = xamamu in this sense and not in the sense "lead, govern." I render tentatively, therefore, bearing the context in mind: xdmim iratum, "those who store up proud thoughts." Irtu means "advances" in the connection mutir irtilu, Hwb. p. 125, and may perhaps be construed in this sense. I read xarran = urxu, following obv. line 47 rather than the usual kaskal. On siammd = naddnu, cf. s. v. rev. 3. 23/24. Am-u = anaku, "lead," only here. The EK. form is anna, passim; cf. ES. dmmd here, evidently a dialectic variation of E K . anna. Ud-ka-bar
= zabar, Sb. 113.
25. From here on the inscription is too badly mutilated to admit of consecutive translation, although the general meaning seems apparent (see above, p. 15). This line, which has no Sumerian equivalent, is evidently an allusion to the glowing of the metals. 26. This is an ES. line without Assyrian translation. 27. I supply umun here, as in 18 obv. Note that iltaritum is written with the determ. ilu, but cf. line 19 obv. 31. Gi-in-bi must be compared with gi-in = amtu, K. 2759, 10 et passim, Br. 2470. The -bi suffix is the demonstrative, unexpressed in Assyrian. Tag = lapdtu, "turn over, disturb," Br. 3797. I t may mean "excite" here; cf. Zb. pp.12, 15. 33. For mulu, also 37 rev., cf. 55 obv. 36. Munluri-enndmu = eterbu is relative conjugation with the final -mu as above, 25 obv. The infix ena occurs also with -zu; garri-ennazu, Br. 11957 = tabUma. For edab, present of adabu, cf. IV. 61, 35b: akan Su nakru $a idibakanni, "where is the foe who has troubled thee?" The usual ideogram for adabu is E K . XI-GAR = ES. qi-ib-mar, Sd. 19. 37/38. I cannot explain this passage. The Sumerian -ennamu, as in line 35 rev., shows a relative clause.
28
T H E H Y M N TO B f i L I T
39. Dim would be the ES. value for gim in al-dim. It is cognitive with di-di = aldku, 41 rev. 41/42. On aba see s. v. rev. line 5; Di-di, cognitive with dim, line 39 rev. 47/48. Mu-tin = zikaru also II. 7, 13c; II. 25, 39a, et passim; Br. 1326. Mutin is probably ES. for giS, nitax = zikaru; US, Br. 5048. The combination -mu-tin = zinniltu, "woman"; cf. nu— -mu-tin, 1. 49, 50, 53, rev. Sal is, of course, the usual ideogram for zinniitu. The character is evidently a variation of the sign nunuz, Br. 8177 = lipu, "offspring, descendant," syn. of SurSu = The occurrence of this sign in combination with mu-tin = zikaru is explicable, but unusual. 55. Gdl = pitu, only IV. 18, 15a; cf. gal(JK)-gdl = pitu, Bezold, Lit. p. 181, n. 1. The ma- in ma-gal-la in our passage must be the verbal prefix with infinitive force. 59/60. The combination dim-me ma-ma-a seems like two words representing the Assyrian udiHu from $"11"!, "be new, fresh," hence in this connection probably a virgin(?). See comment above, p. 6. It is impossible to determine whether there is any connection of ideas between our dimme and dim-dim-ma = dunnamu, "a weakling," II. 28, 68b. Dim-ma also = larru "king," V. 16, 52e. 61/62. Emuqtum must be fem. abstract for emuqu, "strength," especially "bodily strength," passim, Hwb. p. 39. The usual ideogram for emuqu is ID (a), but also ni-e (GIR), cf. s. v. 58 obv. The mutilated ideogram ending in -Si in our present passage (61) is inexplicable, ¿-la = iStu bit; note the construct state. 63/64. On me-e = anaku, without -n, i. e., men, cf. Haupt's able remarks, Sfg. p. 31. Dam-dam with suffix -la must mean "as a wife." 65/66. Tur here must be read tumu; cf. 14, 20 obv. Note the masc. -Su in ummi-iu, where we expect ummi-la. This is not uncommon and may be traced to non-Semitic influence. 67/68. With gud-gud-du = eluti, cf. II. 30, lOg and Br. 4704.
T H E H Y M N TO
BÊLIT
29
The sign for uru is sal = qalla, II. 30, 14-19, but it is broken here. GlS-I-?-BI is incomprehensible. 69/70. We should perhaps supply (sal-ki-ta-)da = uru lapluti. 70. I cannot explain SU-LU-$U-AN. It is probably not equivalent to 72 rev. 72. Parisku, as suggested by Mr. S. H. Langdon, is permansive of parasu, "decide." 73. UD-bi = ina umilumma, which is not expressed. Mr. Langdon has ingeniously translated this line as I indicate: sux-a-bi, lit. "her how long"; sux = axulap, HT. p. 115, rev. 5. Cf. also Zb. 28 and HT. p. 122, obv. 12. The last eleven lines are hopelessly mutilated. Eme-sal
FORMS DISCUSSED IN THE COMMENTARY
Am-ma, 23 rev. Âm-u, 3 rev., 23 rev. Ba-sig-kab-du-ga, 13 rev. Gé, 35, obv. Dim, 39 rev. Dim-me, 59 rev. Dim-dim-ma, 59 rev. Egizagga, 39 obv. E-ne-am, 33 obv. Êr, 31 obv. Èri, 25 obv. Xarrân, 47 obv.; 21 rev. Idê, 47 obv. ; 65 rev. In-du-mu, 69 obv. Kur-ra-ga, 13 rev. Lax, 51 obv. Mai, 16 obv.; 59 rev. Ma-mâ-a, 59 rev. Marza, 16 obv.
Mên, 16 obv. Mêr, 35 obv. Méri, 61 obv.; 19 rev. Mullillâ, 14 obv. Mulu, 55 obv.; 33 rev. Mu-tin, 47 rev. Nu-dim-mud, 75 obv. Nu-mu-tin, 47 rev. Sa-a, 59 obv. Sa-a, 5 rev. Sêk, 15 rev. Si-âm-mâ, 3 rev. Su-ru-na, 7 rev. Te-tal-la, 15 rev. Tu-mu, 18, 71 obv.; 61 rev. Û-bu-bu, 15 rev. Umun, 16 obv. Mu-tin, 47 rev.
SUMERIAN
AS A
LANGUAGE1
A LTHOUGH the Sumerian question is an old one in the history of Assyriology, the new Sumerian matter from the — - A - monuments which is constantly coming to hand demands, in the interest of all those who can look upon this discussion with unprejudiced eyes, a most rigid and impartial examination. Professor Morris Jastrow, Jr., in his recent lucid and exhaustive exposition of the difficulties attending the study of this highly complicated problem (AJSL. XXII, 89-109), has stated (p. 109), in his criticism of the advance sheets of my Materials for a Sumerian Lexicon, that the view expounded in that work "represents a decided progress in the direction of attaining greater clearness in the presentation of the issues involved." The opinion alluded to is that Sumerian was originally a non-Semitic agglutinative language which, in the course of many centuries of Semitic influence, became so incrusted with Semiticisms, most of them the result of a very gradual development of the earlier foreign sacred speech of the priests, that it is really not surprising to find the theory of a Semitic cryptography set forth and vigorously upheld by so eminent a scholar as Professor Halévy (see P., pp. viii, ix). The chief feature of the Sumerian system which gave rise to such a view as this 1 Reprinted from The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, X X I I I (April, 1907), 202-219. The following abbreviations are used in this article: A J = American Journal of Philology; AJSL - American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature; EK = Eme-ku; ES = Eme-sa; F = Fossey, Contributions au dictionnaire sumérien-assyrien, Part I, 1906; G = Guyard, Notes sur lexicographie assyrienne; Hwb. = Delitzsch, Handwörterbuch; J = Jastrow, M., Jr., article, American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, XXII, 89-109; P = Prince, Materials for a Sumerian Lexicon; WZK.M = Wiener Zeitschrift für Kunde des Morgenlandes; ZA = Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie; ZK = Zeitschrift für Keilschrifte.
S U M E R I A N AS A L A N G U A G E
31
latter theory is the occurrence of the principle of sound-association between Sumerian words of widely different origin, and, moreover, an often deliberate mnemonic association between Sumerian words and similar sounding Semitic vocables. In fact, I have admitted that the artificiality of the later system is so evident that this in itself, if attended by no other more fundamental phenomena, would justify the Halevyan view that Sumerian was a mere Semitic system of cryptography. On the other hand, who ever heard of a cryptography exhibiting marked phonetic development of a class foreign to the language on which it is based (see the remarks on secret languages, P., pp. xviii, xix)? And yet this is just what Sumerian shows, both in the many instances cited in the Materials (for example, n = S) and also in other similar cases. Professor Jastrow himself (op. cit., pp. 105, 106) is forced to admit that there may "lurk in the Sumerian system . . . some features which point to the existence at one time in the Euphrates valley of a non-Semitic language spoken and perhaps even written by the side of the Semitic Babylonian." That such was the case, and that the basic elements of Sumerian were really linguistic and not artificially made by Semites, I believe has been proved in the Introduction to the Materials. Some additional evidence of this character will be shown in the present paper, which is chiefly devoted to the philological analysis of the most important material given by Fossey in the first twentyfive pages of his Contributions au dictionnaire sumerien-assyrien, Part I, 1906. Much of this matter he has taken from the bilingual vocabularies published in Volumes XI, XII, XIV, XVIII, and X I X of the Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum (1900-1904). Before proceeding to this discussion, it is necessary to call attention to the existence in Volume XV of this British Museum series of what are quite evidently phonetic glosses, showing the correct pronunciation of Sumerian words. Thus in XV, plate 14, obv. 14, we find gi-id in small writing after BU, indicating that BU was not
32
S U M E R I A N AS A L A N G U A G E
to be read bu in this case. In XV, plate 15, obv. 19, we find a most interesting instance of the pronunciation following the sign in the text itself written in the same sized characters: udu gu (KA)-di-zuka gud(xa-ra)-ab-ba, "on the day when thou speakest judgment, O bull of the abyss!" (xa-ra = GUD + ab-ba). Here the sign GUD, "bull," is clearly to be pronounced xa-ra; cf. Br. 5735: xar = GUD. In XV, plate 22, obv. 18, the pronunciation e-gi, a new value in small writing, is shown for NIN: e-gi(NIN) eri me-a, "the lady of the city am I . " In XV, plate 22, obv. 30, the value im in small writing is given for IM, showing that IM was not to have its usual Sumerian value ni. Finally, in XV, plate 23, rev. 8, zu-ur zu-ur (small) shows how the sign ZTXR is to be uttered in this passage. In the Commentary below on Emegudda (Eme-su-xa, Eme-te-na, and so forth) similar pronunciations of different Sumerian words for " m a n " are indicated. All this seems to confirm not only the thesis as to the spoken character of Sumerian, but also the fact that the reader had an extensive choice of Sumerian words open to him. Here should also be noted the pure Sumerian words in Greek transliteration mentioned P., pp. ix, x. Nothing, it would appear, can be more explicit than these phenomena, plainly indicating the phonetic character of the Sumerian text. Furthermore, some of Fossey's citations also seem to confirm the phonetic interchange of Sumerian consonants. Note especially the commentary below J. v. dir = AN, "god," dir being plainly a triturated form of dimir ( = ES. dimmer) "god," where the medial m = nasal w has entirely disappeared. The unusual form digir, " g o d " (cf. E K . dingir) can also be ES., in which dialect the ordinary word for "god" was dimmer (evidently with the nasal m). This digir = dimmer plainly demonstrates the nasal character of the Sumerian medial g; viz., digir = di-ngir = dimir = dimmer. T h e common E K . form di-in-gir is really therefore only a very slight variant. Note also sangu = saggu = sag, J. v. Emegudda. T h e highly indeterminate character of the Sumerian nasals has already been pointed out (P., pp. x, xi). In this connection should also be
SUMERIAN
AS A
LANGUAGE
33
noted in Fossey's citations the parallel indeterminate nature of the sibilant 5 = S (see P., pp. xii and below s. v. xas = xaS). That r can = S (P., p. xii) is also seen in the possible connection between a§ and uru, " m a n " (5. v. as, below). Professor Halévy in recent numbers of the Revue sémitique has seen fit to ridicule my table of Sumerian consonantal interchange (P., pp. x-xii), yet not one of the interchanges there indicated is impossible philologically. This is true even of g = b; g = d and n = the sibilant
(see, particularly,
Muss-Arnolt,
in AJSL.
XXII,
285, 286). N o attempt has, of course, ever been made by me to prove that the Sumerian system was free from Semitic influence (note P., Introduction, Chap. I), nor have I any such desire now. Assonance and double association, discussed at length in the Materials, appear also in many of Fossey's equations. Thus ellu, "bright" = AN, the god-sign, as an association with ilu, "god," and probably also with the bright vault of [heaven (AN also = "heaven"); patâru associated with bur from gir; the Sumerian word du = KA, "to speak," and also du = dubbubu, "plan" (secondary from "speak"), where the first syllable du-bbubu suggested the Sumerian du (see below s. v. du); xas = xâsu, "hasten" (s. v. xas 2); sulu = sulû, sulû (5. v. sulu); tab = the sign Girû = xamâtu, "flame,
flicker"
(a real
value of Girû), but with this same sign is also grouped tab = axâtu, "sister" by an erroneous association with tab = tabbu, the twinsign.
Here we have two distinct tab-values confused.
Indeed, the great multiplicity of meanings attributed to one and the same sign, accretions which arose from what seem to be clear causes, is quite as evident in Fossey's vocabularies as in the lists given in the Materials
(see below, especially s. v. bur, gir, xas,
kud, and so forth). It will be evident, therefore, that these lists, cited by Fossey, date from a time when the Sumerian system had become quite thoroughly semitized and had developed into the later semi-artificial "priestly idiom." In his first twenty-five pages Fossey has contributed to the
34
S U M E R I A N
AS
A
L A N G U A G E
Sumerian lexicon the following new values: a-ri = patri, "dagger"; du = mátu, "die"; dubbin = the sign TAR; mu = the sign PA, "man"; ul = the sign G i r ú ; uttu = the god-sign + MUK; and usum = istén, "one," apparently confirming the Sumerian word aS, "one." The following trifling oversights on the part of Fossey should also be noted: isbarrum for ista(m)ru(m), "goddess," s. v. dimir; kutturu for qutturu, 5. v. tar 1; muttü for muttú, s. v. sila; napálum for napáxum, s. v. bur 2; suxxudu for suxxutu, s. v. bur 1; summudu for summutu, s. v. gir 1. Fossey's excellent word-lists, all of which I hope to examine subsequently in the manner followed in the commentary to this article, are bound to prove most valuable to every student of the Sumerian system. Thus far, however, nothing has come to light militating against my original thesis regarding the origin of Sumerian: that it was a language which became artificialized in the course of perhaps thousands of years of foreign influence. This view is really "a connecting link between the extreme idea of the Halévyan school and the extreme idea of the opposing (all) Sumerian school" (thus Muss-Arnolt, AJSL. X X I I , 286). For the convenience of the student a glossary of the 177 Semitic words herein discussed has been appended to the article. COMMENTARY
A-RI = pat-ri, "dagger, dirk"; X I I , 13, 14. This is given as ES. and is equivalent to the GRR-sign = patru, "dagger," Br. 309; F. p. 120. On this sign, which originally represented a dagger and then the forked lightning, see P. pp. 148, 149. The word a-ri in Br. 11447 = Semitic ábu, "enemy" and 11448 = xatánu, "defend" (see P. p. 39). It seems clear that this ari, "dagger" is the same word as ari, "enemy." The occurrence of the Semitic patru in the gen. form pat-ri = a-ri was perhaps due to dittography with the ri-ending of a-ri. See s. v. gir = GIR in this list. A§ (?) = the horizontal wedge = amélu, "man," in ZA. I X ,
S U M E R I A N AS A L A N G U A G E
35
163, col. iv, 2 (F. 1). This is an interesting equivalent. The horizontal wedge in this sense must perhaps be regarded as the variant of the upright wedge = gis = Sarru, "king," Br. 10073, which word gi§ is possibly the same as ges = the wood-sign, denoting "strength." The association of the meaning " m a n " with the single wedge seems to go back to the pictorial meaning of this sign; i. e., "the one par excellence," hence " m a n . " I read as in F. p. 1, because aS, tas, tal, dis = the numeral "one." The word aS, " m a n , " may be connected with the ordinary uru = ur, Br. 11256, " m a n " ; see P., p. xii: r and S interchange. According to ZA. IX, 163, col. iv, 2, this equivalent for " m a n " is in the Eme-gud-da dialect or style. See below, 5. v. Eme-gud-da. BU-UR = the sign Muk-minnabi, Br. 323; i. e., the double MUK. On this sign see especially P. p. 61, j. v. bulug, buru, du, gir, and uSum. The following equivalents for the bur-value of this sign given by Fossey are interesting enough to deserve discussion. These equivalents may be divided into three meaning-groups as follows: GROUP I
Meanings arising from the original meaning of the sign Mukminnabi, "cut something tied, solve" (see P. p. 61 5. v. bulug; viz., kullulu, F. 152, "complete," from idea "solve." Fossey copies wrongly ku-ul-ku-lu. Nasaxu sa surri, F. p. 160, "tear out," said of the heart, probably a reference to the practice of augurs (see s. v. salaku below). Nipi' ersitim, F. p. 161, "sprout," said of the earth, from idea "loosen." Pataru, F. p. 169, "split," from idea " c u t " (see Group II). Palqu, F. p. 163, "destruction" (?), perhaps from palaqu, "ravage," from idea "cut." Pasaru, F. p. 165; also Br. 344: "loosen, solve, perform"; cf. F. p. 167: p. sa kispi, "perform, said of an incantation"; F. p. 168: p. sa mami(tu), "perform, said of an o a t h " ; F. p. 168a; p. sa siri, "perform, said of an oracle"; also F. p. 144, pussuru, "loosen, solve." All these meanings are, of course, from the idea "cut." Pitu, F. p. 170, "open," from " c u t . " Saxaxu sa siri, F. p. 171, "bend down, condescend, said of an
36
S U M E R I A N AS A L A N G U A G E
oracle." Probably secondary to the idea "perform an oracle," just above. Saltu, F. p. 173, wrongly saldu, perhaps "strong, violent," from áalátu, "overpower," from idea "cut." Saláku sa sum, F. p. 172, "tear open," said of a heart (see above s. v. nasáxu). Suxxutu, F. p. 176, wrongly suxxudu, "tear off, peel," from "cut." Tabálu, F. p. 178, "take away," from "loosen, remove." Tapsirtu, F. p. 181, "redemption," from pasáru "loosen." Ubburum, F. p. 182, "cause to pass over or away," from idea "loosen, set free." Umsátu, F. p. 155, "distress," perhaps from idea "cut, act violently." GROUP II
Meanings arising from association of the sign Muk-minnabi with the sign GIR, "dagger, lightning," Br. 300: Abra, F. p. 141, "bright, clear." Burra, F. p. 143, perhaps syn. with ubbubu, "shine," Muss-Arnolt, p. 188a; from baráru, "shine." Darasum sa simme, F. p. 146, "dazzle,(?) said of blindness." Darasu is not certain. Xamátu, F. p. 149, "flame, flicker"; cf. Br. 307: GIR = xamátu. Napáxu Sa ümi, F. p. 158, "shine, said of the day." Napálum sa duppi, F. p. 159; evidently an error for napáxum (xum = lum) sa duppi, "glow, said of a clay tablet"; i. e., in the fire while baking. Napálu I cannot identify. It is probable that bur = patáru, F. p. 169, may also be an association between Muk-minnabi and GIR = patru, "dagger." GROUP III
Meaning arising from the evident association on the part of the scribe of bur = Muk-minnabi with bar, par = PAR, Br. 5534 = suparruru, "spread out," used of the waxing moon, Muss-Arnolt, p. 10936. See F. p. 177; but Subarruru, wrong for suparruru. I cannot explain the following equivalents given by Fossey: lummusu sa surinnu, F. p. 153. Is this for xummusu, "smash," from xamásu? ( = "smash, said of a pillar"). F. p. 174: sattu Sa surri, "year of the heart," and F. p. 175: sattu sa qarni, "year of the horn" are probably terms having to do with augury and may be connected with the idea of cutting open the animal, thus properly
S U M E R I A N
AS
A
L A N G U A G E
37
belonging to Group I. For other values of Muk-minnabi, see s. v. du and usum below. DI-GI-ER, F . 3 2 8 = AN, god-sign. Note F . p. 3 3 4 : beltu, "lady" (ES.). F. p. 336: belu, "lord." F. p. 338: ellu, "bright, shining." F. p. 341: iltu, "goddess." F. pp. 342 and 344: ilu, "god." The equivalent ellu, "bright, shining," is a pun on the usual equivalent ilu, "god," and also an association with the idea AN = "heaven"; "starry vault." It is evident that this digir-form can be ES. See below 5. v. dimir and dir = AN. Cf. the Semitic loan word digiril, "god," Muss-Arnolt, p. 241. DI-MI-ER, F. p. 3 2 9 = AN, the god-sign. Note F. p. 3 3 5 : b61tu, "lady" CES.). F. p. 343: ilu, "god." F. p. 346: isbarrum, clearly an error of Fossey's for i£-ta(m)-ru(m) = iS-ta-ru, "goddess," with nasalized syllables. This dimir is a real ES. form = the more usual dimmer (dim-me-ir), "god." See s. v. digir and dir = AN. Cf. the Semitic loan word dimmeru, "god," Muss-Arnolt, p. 256. D I - I R , F . p. 3 3 0 = AN, the god-sign. This form is a plain evidence that the medial m of dimir-dimmer could be pronounced like a w and also be entirely eliminated. Dir represents the form with eliminated w. See s. v. digir and dimir. DUBBIN, F . p. 2 4 8 = the sign cadatakkuru, Br. 2 7 1 3 , usually pronounced dubbin, is given as a value of TAR. Inasmuch as the chief meaning of TAR is "cut," the association of this sign with the word dubbin, which exclusively denotes "sharpness" (see P. p. 88), is perfectly natural. This association is new in the vocabulary of Sumerian. On TAR, see below s. v. xas, kud, kuru, qatmu, qutmu, sulu, sila and tar. Du-u, F. p. 145 = the sign Muk-minnabi; the double MUK = damu, "blood." Du also = Muk-minnabi, Br. 329, but only with the value dubbubu, "plan," Br. 349, which is also seen in F. p. 147. I t is highly probable that the equivalent dababu, "plan" = du is to be connected with du = KA, "speak"; cf. Br. 511: KA = du = dababu, "plan"; and that du = dababu in connection with Muk-
38
S U M E R I A N
AS
A
L A N G U A G E
minnabi is merely an association with du, "speak, plan." Assonance, probably mnemonic, also played a part in the equation du = dubbubu. The presence of the value du for Muk-minnabi is to be explained by the fact that du(g)-di(g) is a value for BAD = matu, "die," Br. 4382, which was suggested as long ago as 1885 by Peter Jensen, ZK. II, 422. Now the sign Muk-minnabi means primarily "loosen, cut what is tied" (see above s. v. bur), which suggests the idea "die" = du(g) usually = BAD. Hence we find F. p. 154: du = matum, "to die" (not matum, "land") and, by association of ideas, F. p. 145: damu, "blood." This is a valuable discovery and tends to confirm Jensen's reading of BAD, Br. 4382. See P., s. v. dig = BAD, p. 76, where I assume the value dig for BAD on account of the presence of dib = LU = "die." The presence of this du cited in Fossey's work, in my opinion, settles the word du(g)-di(g)-dib = "die" in Sumerian. Finally it should be noted that du = Muk-minnabi, F. p. 179, = tabu, "good," which is clearly an association with du, dug = X I = tabu (see P. p. 89). We thus have two meaning-groups in connection with du = Mukminnabi; i. e., the inherent du, "die," from the original idea "loosen, dissolve," and two du-values by association. On this sign see also 5. v. bur and usum. EME-GUD-DA, F. p. 1, written with the sign gud = Guddu, Br. 4696. This expression is an evident designation of some sort of speech, as eme means essentially liSanu "language," P. p. 99. In the following lines 1-7 of the Berlin Vocabulary, published by Reisner in ZA. IX, 163, col. iv, occurs a most interesting series of equations. 1. uru = UR = amelu, "man," in Eme-gud-da, "the lofty speech," as gud = Guddu primarily = elu, "lofty, high," P. 159. 2. as (?) = the horizontal wedge = amelu, "man," also in Emegud-da.
S U M E R I A N AS A L A N G U A G E
39
3. za = ZA = amelu, "man," in Eme-sux-a, perhaps "the shining or precious speech," as sux = s u x can mean zimu, "face, countenance," from zamu, "shine" (?) Br. 3021, and also nasaqu, "be precious," Br. 3019. This is a more common meaning for sux than Hrozny's nasaxu, "remove," cited in WZKM. X X , p. 282 (see below). 4. sa-an-qu (qu = gud = Guddu; a gloss) = the perpendicular wedge = amelu "man," also in Eme-sux-a. 5. mu-lu = amelu, "man," in Eme-te-na(d), probably "the speech of the lying down place or harem," as te = primarily "direction" and means simtu, "suitable, fitting," Br. 7705, while na(d) = na'alu, "lie down," Br. 8991: rabasu, "lie down," Br. 8997, etc. 6. mu, gloss to show pronunciation of sign PA = amelu, "man," also in Eme-te-na(d). 7. The ordinary Babylonian sign for " m a n " = amelu, " m a n , " in Eme-si-di, "the correct" or perhaps "the usual speech." Of these Sumerian words, uru = UR is the common EK. word for "man," Br. 1 1 2 5 5 . On as, see above, this Commentary. AS may be EK. or EX., but is most probably EK. Za, " m a n " is probably the short form for zag = sag, "head, man," Br. 3 5 0 6 . This idea is confirmed by the fact that za is followed by sanqu = sangu which does not, in this instance, mean "priest" = SIT, Br. 5 9 8 0 , but rather amelu, "man," as in Br. 3513, where the sag-sign, "head" also means "man," as the head of the family. On the nasalized g in sangu = saggu, see P. p. xl. Mulu, in line 5 of the Berlin Vocabulary, col. iv., is an exclusively ES. form, while in line 6 we meet the new value mu for PA, which sign means usually "staff, smite." We must note here that PA can also have the value lu, Br. 5 5 6 3 , and that lu, also means amelu, "man," generally in composition, P. p. 225. This lu is the lu-element in EK. gulu and ES. mulu, "man." Hence it is evident that the sign PA can probably mean "man" in the sense of "the ruling one, the staff-bearer." This new word mu = PA here is the same element seen in ES. mu-lu
40
S U M E R I A N AS A L A N G U A G E
and is undoubtedly cognate with me = zikaru, "man," Br. 10382 "the speaker." Mu then must be ES. Besides these four Eme's or "speeches," we find in the same document ZA. IX, 162, col. iii. 18: Eme-sal, and col. iv. 71: Emegal, which must mean the "soft or women's language" and "the great or men's language." Now the peculiarity of these characteristics of Eme is that apparently, except in the one instance of Eme-te-na(d) = real Eme-sal, the Sumerian words attributed to the respective Eme's are not grouped according to any special dialect. The qualifications Eme-gal, Eme-gud-da, Eme-sux-a seem to be practically synonymous, but Eme-te-na(d), "speech of the harem," which has two Eme-sal words attributed to it, is perhaps a synonym for Eme-sal, as just remarked. Lehmann's conclusion (SamaHumukin, Cp. iv) with regard to these Eme qualifications seems after all the most satisfactory, that these terms are used as designations of various styles; i. e., certain words accustomed to be used in various forms of ritual or cantillation (see also Weissbach, Sumerische Frage, pp. 124 f.). Following this idea, Eme-si-di, which shows the common amelu ideogram, probably meant "the ordinary style," while Eme-sal must have been regarded as a special style by itself. Hrozny's interesting view that these expressions are geographical in sense (WZKM. XX, 282 ff.) has not, I think, been satisfactorily proved. Hrozny bases his theory on the fact that Eme-si-di must mean "language of the north," as si-di in im-si-di, "north wind" (also im-mir-ra, Hwb. p. 152) can mean "north." Arguing from this point, which in this instance is somewhat doubtful, as si-di means primarily "right, straight, correct," a natural meaning applied to speech, he endeavors to establish geographical meanings for the other Eme's. The chief objection to his theory is the improbability that six distinct dialects existed, corresponding exactly to the different points of the compass. Hrozny's promised further exposition of this problem will be extremely interesting. The main conclusion to be drawn from these qualifications of
S U M E R I A N AS A L A N G U A G E
41
Eme is that these passages plainly prove that the non-Semitic text was spoken and that there was a wide choice of vocabulary open to the Sumerian reader, which seems to me to be an additional argument in favor of the linguistic character of Sumerian. Gi-m = the sign Girú, Br. 299. On this sign see especially P. p. 148, s. v. gir. The following interpretations, cited by Fossey, deserve attention. They may be divided into two meaning-groups as follows: GROUP I
Meanings derived from the original meaning of the sign "dagger" and then the daggerlike lightning. F. p. 105: esimtu, "strength" (?) from ü ^ y (?). F. p. 113; naglabu, "cutting implement; shears," same idea as "dagger." Cf. F. p. 115: namsaru, "sword." F. p. 118: parádu, "be strong," from idea "dagger, power." This is perhaps also an association with F. p. 120: patru, "dagger" (see above s. v. a-ri = this sign = pat-ri, "dagger"). F. p. 124: sibbu, "flame" from Sabábu, from idea "lightning." F. p. 125: Summudu; wrong for áummutu, " j u t , " like high mountains, jutting like the point of a dagger (thus Haupt: see Muss-Arnolt, p. 1058). F. p. 129: zuqaqipu, "scorpion" = "the sharp thing" (Br. 312). GROUP II
Meanings derived from an association of gir = Girú with gir = pirikku, Br. 9177 = "foot, go." Thus F. p. 110: xarránu, "road." F. p. 116: padanu, "path" (also Br. 308). F. p. 127: urxu, "road." All these seem to come from the idea gir, "foot, going." Cf. Br. 9191: gir = foot = padánu, "path." F. p. 103: asiru probably is for asiru, "noble"; Muss-Arnolt, p. 77 b. Here it should be noted that tar = TAR, also with the primary meaning "cut," = asáru, "be noble," F. p. 194. " C u t " connoted "power" as was probably also the case with gir = asiru, "noble." On the other hand, in addition to the sign-association here, there was probably also an association between the word gir = aSiru and gir = "foot" = "power." Note Br. 9183: gir = gaááru, "be
42
S U M E R I A N
AS
A
L A N G U A G E
powerful." F. p. 118: paradu, "be strong" also probably belongs in this category. The following equations are doubtful: F. p. 121: gir = sakbanni = ? F. p. 128: za-rum, possibly "enemy" from the idea "dagger" = gir. Note that a-ri = this sign = "dagger" and also that the word a-ri in Br. 11447 = abu, "enemy." For other values of this gir = ciru, see s. v. ari, tab, and ul. X A - A S = the sign silu, Br. 353 (tar, kud); also xa-as (see below). This value occurs F. p. 187 and note Br. 355 xa-a3 = this sign whose primary signification is "cut." The following meaninggroups suggest themselves. GROUP I
Meanings derived from the idea "cut, smash, destroy." F. p. 204: gadadu (xa§) probably for qadadu, "bow down, humble, "from idea "crush." F. p. 209: xabalu, "ruin, injure." F. p. 212: xamasu (xas), "crush, beat." F. p. 218: xasasu (xas), "cut, smash." F. p. 224: xasalu (xas), "crush" (corn). F. p. 228: kaparu (xas), "destroy," also = bar = BAR, "cut, sever," Br. 1761. F. p. 239: 5A Sag&Su masgasu (xas), "an implement for destroying." Masgasu is from saqasu, "destroy"; cf. Br. 386: gis-xas = masgasu. F. p. 283: sebiru (xaS) also an implement of this sort, probably from sabaru, "break." Cf. Br. 383: gis-xas = sebiru and 384 = sebru. GROUP II
Meanings derived from sound association with Semitic. F. p. 216: xasabu (xas), "be full, plenteous." F. p. 219: xasbu (xas), "fulness." F. p. 222: xisbu (xas), "fulness"; uncertain reading. It is highly probable that F. p. 205: sa gamalu gamlu (xas), "be perfect," is a secondary association with this sign, based on the equation xas = xasabu. Note another apparent association with Semitic in F. p. 220: sa xasu xasu, "hasten," owing to the value xas, xas. I cannot explain at present the association in F. p. 210: xabasu (xas), "bind, connect," with this sign "cut." F. p. 225: xummuru (xas) = ? F. p. 211: xakaru (xas) = ?
S U M E R I A N AS A L A N G U A G E
43
I t will be noted that only in one equation, F. p. 216: xas = xas&bu, is the value of s given. All the other equivalents are given with J. Whether or not as and aS were really kept carefully distinct in pronunciation is open to some doubt. The final sibilant seems often to have been as carelessly noted as was the final nasal. On the sign sild(tar, kud), see also s. v. dubbin, kud, kuru, qatmu, qutmu, sila and sulu. Ku-ud = the sign silil(tar, kud, Br. 356). This value appears F. 193. GROUP I
Meanings derived from the primary idea of the sign "cut, sever"; then "judge, distinguish." F. p. 193: alu, perhaps the name of an official with judicial powers (see Abel u. Winckler, Keilschrifttexte, 94, no. 192). F. p. 199: danu sa dini, "judge." F. p. 207: gararu, "run," probably "cut through," as a running river. F. p. 213: xar&mu Sa parasu, "bewitch, said of alienating (a person)," from idea "cut, separate." See just below s. v. par&su. F. p. 223: xisiru Sa Sinni, apparently something to do with cutting, connected with the teeth; perhaps "biting" (?). See Muss-Arnolt, p. 229a. F. p. 226: ikbu, apparently = "pudendum feminae" = the slit organ. See below Group II. Ikbu is a synonym of uppu, bisru = "clitoris" (Muss-Arnolt, p. 336). F. p. 233: ku, perhaps = qfi, "cord"; something to be cut (?). F. p. 237: malaku, "decide, counsel, rule." F. p. 245: nakasu, "cut off." F. p. 254: niksu, " a cutting." F. p. 256: paraqu, "separate" (?), perhaps for paraku, "separate." F. p. 257: parasu, "decide." F. p. 258: parasu Sa me, "separate, said of water." F. p. 261: para'u Sa isi, "to cut off, said of a tree." F. p. 262: para'u sa Sammi, "cut off, said of a plant." Note, however, that in F. p. 260: para'u is equivalent to tar = this same sign, q. v. F. p. 269: pitd sa Sammi, "open, bloom, said of a plant," from idea "cut, sever, open." F. p. 284: Selfi, "send up shoots" (see below Group II). F. p. 292: tamti, "speak," from idea, "decide, judge"; with and without libba, "heart."
44
S U M E R I A N
AS
A
L A N G U A G E
GROUP II
Meanings derived from the primary idea "cut, sever," but having especially to do with generation. This idea has its connecting link with Group I perhaps in the equation F. p. 226: ikbu, "the feminine organ" = " t h e slit," and also in F. p. 284: selu, "send off shoots," from the idea of "separation from the parent stock." Cf. F. p. 201: eru sa isi, "bring forth, said of a tree." F. p. 202: eru sa sammi, "bear, said of a p l a n t . " Cf. F. p. 269: pitu sa sammi, "open, bloom, said of a p l a n t . " T h e following equations are doubtful in meaning: F. p. 206: gamamu = ? F. p. 217: xasamu = ? F. p. 230: kiksu = ? In F. p. 231: ki-si-it-tum m a y be a derivative from kasasu, "cut open" = qasasu; Muss-Arnolt, p. 416 ab. F. p. 232: kissu m a y be from the same stem. N o t e also the following combinations: F. p. 318: kud-damal-la = ribati, probably " q u a r t e r s of a city," from arba, " f o u r . " F. p. 319: kud-damal-la uru-a = ri-bit a-li, "quarter of a city." These are plainly from the idea "cut, divide." In F. p. 323: kud-da = parasu sa ner-pad-du, "separate, said of bones," evidently a specialization of kud = "cut, separate." On the sign silu = kud, tar, see s. v. dubbin, xas, kuru, qatmu, q u t m u , sila, sulu. KU-RUM in F. p. 188 = the sign silu (tar, kud, Br. 356). Note F. p. 240: m a t u of uncertain meaning; see Muss-Arnolt, p. 620 ab, and see s. v. sila. I believe this matu is for matu, "decrease," from the idea " c u t . " F. p. 297: sa dalalu . . . . ? On the sign, see just above s. v. kud. QA-AT-MU in F. p. 311 = the sign silu, Br. 356 (tar, kud). F. p. 311, gives the equation qa-at-mu = AN-TAR, which seems to mean " t h e god who decrees" (see Br. 381: tar = samu, "decree, ordain"). I cannot explain the Sumerian qatmu. See just below J. v. qutmu. QU-UT-MU in F. p. 312 = the sign silu, Br. 356 (kud, tar). This also = the same god AN-TAR = the god of decision or decrees. See
S U M E R I A N
AS
A
L A N G U A G E
45
above s. v. qatmu. I am inclined to believe that the syllables qat (qad)-qut(qud) are equivalent to the kud = silu which denotes "judge, decree," and that mu is the same word as appears in mu = sumu, "name," Br. 1235 and zikru, "mention, remembrance," Br. 1238. If this is so, qadmu, qudmu means simply "the one who decrees the name." SILA, a doubtful value, F. p. 242 = the sign silu, Br. 356 (kud, tar). Note F. p. 242: muttu, perhaps "decrease," for muttu from the idea "cut, decrease." See above s. v. kurum. In the F. p. 243, equation nabadu Sa narkabti ( = giS-mar, ES.) is doubtful. See Muss-Arnolt, p. 635 a: nabadu (?) andt he derivative nibdu (?) F. p. 276: sulu sa suqi, "pavement, said of a street," and F. p. 277: sulu sa . . . . "pavement" must come from the meaning "cut o u t " = "lay a street." Note F. p. 285: sillu sa zinnisti, "hymen of a woman" (see Prince, AJP. XV, 112). This is also from the idea "slit" as seen above s. v. kud, Group I s. v. ikbu. Sila is an uncertain value in Fossey, but is well established in Br. 357. It means ritfi, "erect," Br. 378; suqu, "street, marketplace," Br. 379; sulu, "street," Br. 380; salatu, "cut asunder," Br. 387, all of which conceptions come probably from the primitive meaning of the sign silu = "cut, fashion, construct." Whether or not sila, or in compounds sil-la, Br. 358, is a loan word in Sumerian from Semitic sulu, or whether it is connected with Sumerian tar (t — s; P., p. xii), is uncertain. See below, 5. v. sulu. SU-LU = the sign silu, Br. 356 (kud, tar). F. p. 265: piqitti, "appointment, post," from the idea of the sign "cut, appoint, decide." F. p. 274: suqu, "street." F. p. 275: sulu, "highway," clearly from the idea of the sign "cut out, lay a street." It must be remembered also that the value sulu is probably associated with the Sem. word sulu by reason of the assonance. Cf. also F. p. 288: Sulu, "direct, guide," also a case of assonance. TA-AB in F. p. 101 = the sign ciru, Br. 299. Also in Br. 302, this sign has the value tab. Note Br. 311: tappu(?), "twin," and with this cf. F. p. 101: tab = axatu, "sister." This is clearly an
46
S U M E R I A N
AS
A
L A N G U A G E
association with tab = the sign Tabbu, Br. 3756, "double, twin," and does not properly belong with the sign Giru. Tab, however, must have been a value of the sign Giru, as tab = xamatu, "flicker, flame" in Br. 307 (also F. p. 108). It must be concluded that this was another word tab with equations as follows. As the sign Girti means primarily "dagger" and then the daggerlike lightning (see above s. v. gir), it can evidently mean F. p. 108: xamitu, "flicker, flame" (see also below s. v. ul = this sign). F. p. 123 probably = saripu, "be brilliant." F. p. 102 = almatu, perhaps from al&mu, "shine" (?). On the sign Gird, see s. v. gir, tab, and ul. TA-AR = the sign silfl, Br. 3 5 6 (kud, tar). We find here practically the same class of meanings as s. v. kud.
GROUP I
Meanings derived from the idea "cut, destroy, decide." F. p. 215: xarasu, "cut, dig into"; see F. p. 216, with value kud: xarasu Sa irsitim, "dig into the earth." F. p. 221: xipu, "smash." F. p. 234: kutturu, evidently for qutturu, "strike, smite" (Muss-Arnolt, p. 940). F. p. 235: litu, "destroy"; cf. Br. 3487: da-ar = litA, clearly the same word. F. p. 241: muntalku, probably an Ifteal participle (m = n) from malaku, "counsel, rule"; cf. F. p. 237: kud = this sign = malaku (see s. v. kud). F. p. 244: nagaru; identical with nagaru, Muss-Amolt, p. 644 b, but perhaps this is naq&ru, "prepare timber," from idea "cut" (Muss-Arnolt, p. 644 a). F. p. 260: para'u, "break" (see s. v. kud). F. p. 263: pataru, "split." F. p. 270: purruru, "break, smash." F. p. 271: purrusu, "decide" (see s. v. kud). G. p. 273: sapaxu, "loosen, break in pieces." F. p. 281: gilu, "ask, inquire into," from the idea "cut into, penetrate." F. p. 282: Samu, "settle, determine." Cf. F. p. 320: tar-ra = Samu. F. p. 321: tar-ra = Summu; Piel of samu. F. p. 286: Situlu, an infinitive from Salu, "ask," formed like gitmalu from gamalu. F. p. 293: taraku, "beat, strike." F. p. 295: ussusu, probably "shoot arrows a t " and hence "cut, pierce."
S U M E R I A N
AS
A
L A N G U A G E
47
GROUP II
Meanings derived from the primary idea "cut," but in a secondary sense. F. p. 194: asaru, "be right, noble." See above s. v. gir = G i r d , "dagger" and "cut" = asiru (asiru). In the case before us, tar = "cut" = asaru, the idea " c u t " connoted "power"; hence = "noble." F. p. 255: paqadu, "care for, keep"; probably also from the idea "penetrate, judge, have supervision over." Note paqadu s. v. ul = the dagger-sign, just below. Cf. F. p. 290: taklu probably = "trusty" from takilu, from the same idea. In F. p. 291: tallu, syn. of tuamu, "twin," also = bar = BAR = "divide" undoubtedly comes from the idea "double, cut in two." I cannot explain F. p. 251: nasaruru (see Muss-Amolt, p. 705 a), nor F. p. 252, nat&ru also Br. 2981 = sur. On this sign silti, see s. v. dubbin, xas, kud, kuru, qatmu, qutmu, sulu. UL = F. p. 100 = the sign cirti, "dagger" and "lightning," Br. 299. UL is an entirely new value for Giril appearing in X I I . 1 3 , 1 5 a. GROUP I
Meanings derived from the idea "flame," from "lightning." F. p. 109: xarabu, "be waste, desolate." F. p. I l l : xattu, "terror." F. p. 107: xamatu, "flame, flicker." See also s. v. tab. F. p. 114: namru, "shining." F. p. 127 b: zaraxu, "glitter, glow." GROUP II
Secondary meanings from this idea. F. p. 104: birittu; perhaps "fetter, inclosure," from the idea "sharp, cut, restrain" (?). F. p. 112: kirbitu, "meadow, field," for qirbitu(P). F. p. 117: paq&du, "keep, care for"; cf. paqadu s. v. tar = "cut," Group II. F. p. 126: sutesuru, "govern, restrain," all from the same idea. F. p. 127a: uttutu, "appointment, calling," connected with the preceding words. On the sign G i r u , see s. v. gir and tab. U T - T U in F. p. 354 = DINGIR-MUK. A new word. U-SU-UM in F. p. 151 = the sign Muk-minnabi, Br. 323. This
48
S U M E R I A N AS A L A N G U A G E
uSum is a new Sumerian word for isten, "one," F. p. 151. Note Br. 330: usum in uSumgal = Semitic loan word usumgallu, "vehement; omnipotent, sovereign" (Muss-Arnolt, p. 116 a). Usum-gal then must simply be "the great (gal) one" (usum, cognate with aS "one, single, unique"). This is therefore an enlightening equation. Cf. also Br. 338: usu, the short form of uSum, = this sign Muk-minnabi = edisu, "alone." On Muk-minnabi, see above s. v. bur, du. GLOSSARY OF ASSYRIAN WORDS Àbu, s. v. ari, gir 2 Abru, 5. ». tab Axàtu, s. v. tab Alàmu, j. ». tab Almàtu, s. ». tab Alu, s. ». kud 1, 2 Amélu, 5. ii. as, Emegudda Asiru, 5. ». gir 2 Asàru, 5. ». gir 2, tar Asiru, s. v. gir 2 Ikbu, s. ». kud 1, 2 Ilu, s. v. digir, dimir Iltu, 5. v. digir I§u, s. v. kud 1, 2 ISbarrum, 5. v. dimir Istaru, s. v. dimir Istèn, 5. v. usum Édisu, s. v. usum Ellu, s. v. digir E§imtu, s. v. gir 1 Er§itu, 5. o. bur 1 Erù, 5. v. kud 2 Ubbubu, s. v. bur 2 Ubburum, j. V. bur 1 Umu, s. v. bur 2 Um§atu, 5. v. bur 1 Uppu, s. v. kud 1 U§§u§u, 5. v. tar 1
Urxu, s. v. gir 2 Usumgallu, s. v. usum Uttùtu, 5. v. ul 2 Bèlu, 5. ». digir Bèltu, 5. ». digir, dimir Bi§ru, s. ». kud 1 Birittu, 5. ». ul 2 Burru, s. ». bur 2 Gadàdu, s. ». xas 1 Gamàmu, s. ». kud 2 Gamlu, s. ». xas 2 Gamàlu, j. ». xas 2, tar 1 Garàru, s. v. kud 1 Gasàru, 5. ». gir 2 Gitmalu, 5. v. tar 1 Dabàbu, s. ». du Dalàlu, 5. ». kuru Dàmu, 5. ». du Dànu, s. ». kud 1 Daràsu, 5. ». bur 2 Digirù, 5. ». digir Dimmeru, s. ». dimir Dinu, 5. ». kud 1 Dubbubu, s. ». du Duppu, s. ». bur 2 Zaràxu, s. ». ul 1 Zarum, 5. ». gir 2 Zikru, J. ». qutmu
S U M E R I A N AS A L A N G U A G E Zimu, s. v. Emegudda Zinnistu, s. v. sila Zuqaqlpu, 5. v. gir 1 Xabásu, s. v. xas 2 Xabálu, 5. v. xas 1 Xakáru, i. v. xas 2 Xamátu, s. v. bur 2, ul, tab Xamásu, s. o. bur 3, xas 1 Xa§á.bu, s. v. xas 2 .Xa§bu, 5. v. xas 2 Xa§ámu, s. v. kud 2 Xa§á§u, s. v. xas 1 Xarábu, s. v. ul 1 Xarámu, s. v. kud 1 Xará§u, s. v. tar 1 Xarránu, s. v. gir 2 Xásu, 5. u. xas 2 Xasálu, s. v. xas 1 Xatánu, s. v. ari Xattu, s. v. ul 1 Xisiru, s. v. kud 1 Xipü, 5. v. tar 1 Xi§bu, s. v. xas 2 Xummusu, s. v. bur 3 Xummuru, s. v. xas 2 Tábu, s. v. du Kasásu, s. v. kud 2 Kapáru, s. v. xas 1 Kissu, i. v. kud 2 Kirbltu, s. v. ul 2 Kispu, 5. v. bur 1 Kü, s. v. kud 1 Kullulu, s. v. bur 1 Kutturu, s. v. tar 1 Libbu, s. v. kud 1 Litü, 5. v. tar 1 Lummusu, J. v. bur 3 Maláku, s. v. kud 1, tar 1 Matü, s. v. kuru Mamítu, s. v. bur 1
Masgasu 5. v. xas 1 Mátu, s. v. du Mé, s. v. kud 1 Muttú, s. v. sila Muntalku, í. V. tar 1 Na'álu, s. v. Emegudda Nabádu, s. v. sila Naglabu, s. v. gir 1 Nagáru, s. v. tar 1 Nakásu, j. v. kud 1 Nasáxu, j. v. bur 1, Emegudda Nasáqu s. v. Emegudda Nasaruru, s. v. tar 2 Namsaru, s. v. gir 1 Namru, s. v. ul 1 Napáxu, s. v. bur 2 Napálu, s. v. bur 2 Naqáru, s. v. tar 1 Narkabtu, s. v. sila Natáru, s. v. tar 2 Nerpaddu, s. v. kud 2 Nibdu, j. v. sila Niksu, s. v. kud 1 Nipi', s. ». bur 1 Sapáxu, s. v. tar 1 Simme, s. v. bur 2 Simtu, s. v. Emegudda Sulü, s. v. sila, sulu Süqu, s. v. sila, sulu Padánu, s. v. gir 2 Patáru, s. v. bur 1, 2, tar 1 Patri, í. v. ari Patru, 5. v. bur 2, gir Paláqu, 5. v. bur 1 Palqu, 5. v. bur 1 Paqádu, s. v. tar 2, ul Pará'u, 5. v. kud 1, tar 1 Parádu, s. v. gir 2 Parásu, j. v. kud 1, 2 Paráqu, s. v. kud 1
50
S U M E R I A N AS A
Pasáru, s. v. bur 1 Piqitti, s. v. sulu Purrusu, s. v. tar 1 Purruru, s. v. tar 1 Pussuru, s. v. bur 1 Pitú, s. v. bur 1, kud 1, 2 Sarápu, s. v. tab Surru, s. v. bur 1, 3 Qú, s. v. kud 1 Qadádu, s. v. xas 1 Qajá§u, s. v. kud 2 Qarnu, s. v. bur 3 Qirbltu, s. v. ul 2 Qutturu, s. v. tar 1 Raba§u, 5. v. Emegudda Ribltu, 5. v. kud 2 Ritú, s. v. sila Sabábu, í. v. gir 1 Sagásu, 5. v. xas 1 Saxáxu, s. v. bur 1 Sakbanni, í. v. gir 2 Salu, 5. v. tar 1 Salátu, s. v. bur 1, sila Saltu, s. v. bur 1 Saláku, s. v. bur 1 S&mu, s. v. qatmu, tar 1 Sanunu, s. v. kud 1, 2
LANGUAGE
Sarru, s. v. as 5attu, s. v. bur 3 Sébiru, s. v. xas 1 Sébru, s. v. xas 1 Selú, s. v. kud 1, 2 Sibbu, 5. v. gir 1 Sinnu, s. v. kud 1 Siru, 5. v. bur 1 Sillu, s. v. sila Situlu, 5. v. tar 1 Suxxutu, 5. v. bur 1 Sulú, s. v. sulu Sumu, s. v. qutmu Summu, s. v. tar 1 Summudu, s. v. gir 1 Summutu, s. v. gir 1 Suparruru, s. v. bur 3 Surinnu, s. v. bur 3 Sutésuru, s. v. ul 2 Tabalu, s. v. tar 2 Takálu, 5. v. tar 2 Taklu, s. v. tar 2 Tallu, s. v. tar 2 Tamü, 5. v. kud 1 Tappu, s. v. tab Tapsirtu, s. v. bur 1 Taraku, s. v. tar 1
THE
VERBAL
INFIXES
IN
PREFIXES
AND
SUMERIAN1
M
THUREAU-DANGIN, in ZA. X X , 380-404: "Sur les préfixes du verbe sumérien," was the first • scholar to indicate the real force of the Sumerian verbal prefixes, which work has been most instructively supplemented by Amo Poebel, ZA. XXI, 218-30. The present writer, following the same lines, now presents a brief study of the more usual verbal prefixes and infixes in Sumerian, which in some respects, notably in the theory of tones herein set forth, differs from, and, in other respects, supplements still farther the work of the above-mentioned scholars. It seems evident that the consonantal elements, of which not only the verbal prefixes, infixes, and suffixes consist, but which are also seen in the nominal suffixes, have, generally speaking, the following more or less invariable functions. For examples the reader will refer in the glossary given below to the words beginning with the respective consonants. TABLE OF CONSONANTAL ELEMENTS
B D G x L
= = = = =
near object and near demonstrative partitive; locative; means (a) precative; (b) = NG = N precative (a) N; (¿>) = Semitic loan form la
1 Reprinted from The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, XXIV (July, 1908), 354-365. The following abbreviations are used in this article: AL' = Delitzsch, Assyrische Lesestiicke, 3d edition; ZA = Zeitschrift fiir Assyriologie; H T - Haupt's, Texts.
52
SUMERIAN
PREFIXES
AND
INFIXES
M = relative and relating N = remote object and dative R = (a) motion, direction; (6) = z of 2 p s = motion, direction; location T = location " i n or out o f " z = 2 p So far as the vowels are concerned, two principles seem to be involved; viz., (a) inherent sense in the vowels: A and u = direction, purpose, means; E and I = finality of action; and (b) vowel harmony, where, for example, AB = IB, I I , which is not to be confounded with the inherent sense = finality of action, seen in IB, I. Thus also AN = IN, I I , but not IN, I. Such an apparent condition seems to necessitate the theory that Sumerian, or at least Old Sumerian, must have had a tonic system of pronouncing the grammatical elements similar to that seen in modern Y o r u b a I , xxi.).
(MSL.
2
T h e following tabulation may be made of the more usual nounsuffixes: -MU " m y " ; 1 p. only. -MU = relative suffix for all three persons, differing in tone from -MU (so already M S L . I , xxi). -zu (dial, -ZA) " t h y . " -BA " t o , with respect to h i s " (directive; referring to nearer subject or object). -BI " h i s , " referring to nearer subject or object, as in H T . p. 76, 1. 9, like the Swedish sin, sitt. -BIR = dative of -BI, with postpositive -R = -RA. -NA " t o his," referring to indirect remote subject or object. -NI " h i s , " referring to remote subject or object with idea " t h e r e , " as H T . p. 76, 1. 1. -GE = genitive particle. -RA = dative particle "unto, t o . " J J . D. Prince, Materials for a Sumerian lexicon, richs'sche Buchhandlung, 1905-7.
Vols. I, II, I I I . Berlin: J. C. Hin-
SUMERIAN P R E F I X E S AND
INFIXES
53
-DA = ablative "by means of, through." -TA = locative "in or out of." -su, si = directive "unto"; motion toward. I t will be evident that the linguistic character of Sumerian is now demonstrated beyond a doubt, as phenomena so marked as those just described would be unthinkable in an artificial jargon or cryptography. The future task of Sumerologists must now be to endeavor to tabulate every verbal form in the inscriptions with full context, in order to correct or verify the results in the directions indicated by Thureau-Dangin, who has undoubtedly paved the way toward a proper understanding of the Sumerian verb in all its ramifications. It is, of course, clear that the system, as it exists in the Sumerian literature as a whole, has not yet been satisfactorily worked out. GLOSSARY A = direction, means = "I, and so forth, thither or by means of" + verb root. I V . 23, nr. 3, 13/4: KI-EL-LA-TA A-RA-AN-SUB (RU) = (i)-na asri elli addiki, "in a pure place I laid it for thee"; "habe es Dir hingelegt"; rev.
1:
GUN-MU
SU-A
RAN, q. v., = " i t for t h e e . " H T . p. 123, (ID)-LAL-BI-NE
U-KI
A-RA-AB-TAG-TAG
=
beltum qata kasama aptasilki, " 0 Lady, my hands are bound; yet do I worship thee" = direction, inclination (also IV, 10, 7b). I I , 16, 46e: A-KABAR-KABAR-NE = ittibu, "they attacked" (direction or duration); also I I . 39, 63c: KABAR-KABAR-RI = tibu, "attack." See also J. V. U-, the harmonic equivalent to A-. AB = BA = continued imperfect action; a common prefix = A + the near object -B. I V , 14, 116: AB-GA-GA = tasakkan; ibid., 156: AB-GA-GA = tasama, "thou hast established and dost establish." See s. v. the harmonic equivalent IB-, II. A-BA = mannu, "who?" occurs passim and seems to contain the directive idea A + BA, the near demonstrative. See s. v. BA-. A-BA = precative prefix XA-BA, q. v. H T . p. 98, 1. 49: A-BA-NI-INGUB (DU) = lizziz, "may he stand."
54
S U M E R I A N
P R E F I X E S
A N D
I N F I X E S
A-BA = "in order to" = means, with continued action. V, 62, 39a: KALAM ( U N ) BER-BIR-RA A - B A - A B - U L - U L = ana puxxur nise Sapxati, "in order to collect the scattered people." Here A = means. AL = AN in force; A + L = the remote object -N. For interchange of / and n see J. v. NU-. H T . p. 126, rev. 39: I-DE-SU (KU) AL-GIM . . . . ina maxri allakma, " I go forward." Here A probably = direction, and -L(-N) = "toward it." V. 52, 446: MA-RA-TA MAMA-AL, postpositive conjugation = iati minu issakna, "what can befall me." IV. 17, 45a: ZA-E A L - G I N ( D U ) - N U - N A - A S = atta ina alakika, "when thou goest." AN = AL, the directive prefix + the remote object -N. II. 8, 30a: G U - ( K A ) - M U MU-LU-DA AN-DA-AB-DI-E = pija itti ameluti issananni, "my voice (mouth) competes for me with mankind." Here again AN seems to have directive force, denoting the action of the stem "complete," which applies most closely with the infix -DAB- = "with t h e m " (DA + near obj. -B) referring pleonastically to ameluti. I I . 16, 18c: S A ( U ) BIL AN-DA-AB-US-E = u isatu tusaxxazasu, "and thou shalt cause fire to seize it (or him)," a similar construction. I I . 16, 306: D U G ( X I ) - M U AN-TA-TUM(DU)-TUM-MU = allaka birka, "my knees go down" ("thither" = -TA-, q. v.). The harmonic equivalent of AN- is IN-, II, q. v. BA- = the near demonstrative B + the directive vowel A; hence is the sign of the continued imperfect: "he had it and still has it" (ZA. XX, 402; X X I , 220). BA- is used with verbs indicating "take" and may also have an imperative, intransitive, and reflexive force (ZA. X X I , 224). That it can denote an undefined continued action is seen by its use with the infinitive. I I . 15, 41c: BA-NI-A-TA = ina nasaxi; I V . 12, 15: BA-DUG(XI)-GA-ES = taba; I V . 16, 216: BA-NA = nadi, and so forth. I = BA + the near obj. -B. V. 20, 37c: BA-AB-TUM = ublam, "do thou bring it" = -B: "be bringing it." -BAB-, II, is the reduplication of the near obj. B. IV. 30, rev. 18: NAM-BA-AB-BI-EN = taqabbi, "thou shalt say" ("it" = BA -F - B ) . I t occurs thus very frequently as an infix. BAB,
S U M E R I A N P R E F I X E S AND
INFIXES
55
I = BA + the remote objective -N. IV. 19, 35b: BA-AN-MAR = ittaskan, where the objective -N gives the verb a reflexive force. HT. p. 121, obv. 6: BA-AN-MAR = supuk, "heap it (-N) up," with imperative continued action. BAN, I I = BA + the negative -N = NU. I V . 10, 60a: A ( I D ) - E - M U BA-AN-TE-NI = itateia ul idxu, "unto my side they approached not." The combination BA-NU occurs I V . 27, 8a: BA-NU-SUG(D)-GA-MU = ul irisu. -DA-: a locative, partitive, and durative infix; also with sense itti, "with." IV. 7, 12a: B A R - S U ( K U ) B A - D A - G U B ( D U ) = ina axati ittaziz, "she stood aside"; lit. "to one side she stood there" = DA. This usage is quite common. IV. 17, 38a: SA-RA-DA-GUB(DU) = izzazka, "he stands by thee." The partitive -DA- occurs more frequently in the combination -DAB-, q. v. The infix -DA- in the sense itti, "with" is seen IV. 2 3 , 53a: S A ( U ) ZA-E MAX-ME-EN A-BA-G1-ADA-DI = belum atta girat; mannu isannanka, "O lord, thou art exalted; who can rival thee" = "compete with thee"; DA = itti, "with." In Sumerian, the idea "thee" is not expressed. II. 8, 29ab: KA-MU MU-LU-DA AN-DA-AB-DI-E = pija itti ameluti issananni, "my voice (mouth) vieth with men." Here -DA- + the near objective -B simply repeats the -DA of MU-LU-DA, "with men." BAN,
+ the near obj. -B. IV. 9, 9b: ZA-E-E-NE AM-ZU A-BA= katu amatka mannu ilammad; mannu isanan, "thy word who can learn it; who can vie with it?" Here DA + B = "with it," repeating amatka. DAB can also mean "unto it." IV. 13, 44a: ZU-A-ZU E-DA XE-EN-DA-AB-GJ-GI = muduka ana me litirka, "may thy wise one turn for thee unto the waters," where the idea of -DA in E-DA is repeated by -DAB-, "unto it (them)." A careful distinction must be made between -DA- and -TA-, q. v. DAB = DA
MU-UN-ZU-A A-BA-MU-UN-DA-AB-DI-E
+ the remote obj. -N. HT, 82, ii. 16: GA-BA-DA-AN-KU = lukul, "may I eat out of it"; GA-BA-DA-AN-NAK = lusti, "may I drink out of it." Here the partitive locative DA is combined with the remote obj. -N. The partitive DA is seen in II. 19, 15, 17a: A-A-ZU DAN = DA
A(ID)
NAM-UR-SAG-GA-ZU =
KU(?)-MU(SA)-BA
XA-DA-AN-BA-E
=
56
SUMERIAN
PREFIXES
AND
INFIXES
abaka ana idi qarradutika qista liqiska, " m a y thy father give thee the gift unto t h y warlike hand." Here -DAN- seems to be partitive = "give of i t " : DA + N. E- as a prefix denotes final past action and has as its harmonic e q u i v a l e n t 1-, q. v. See Z A . X X I , 219. I I . 19, 536; A(ID)-ZI-DA-MU DINGER X I - U R - M U
MU-E-DA-GAL-LA-A = i n a i n n j i a il
XI-UR-MU
nasaku, "on my right hand I have exalted the god X I - U R - M U . " H T . p. 60, col. iv. 13: GI(S)-E-DIB(LU) = gabat, "seize i t " (see s. v. GIS). I V . 2 8 , 1 1 a : ZI-DU MU-E-ZU A G ( S A ) - N E - S U B ( R U ) MU-E-ZU
= kina tidi ragga tidi, "thou hast known righteousness; thou hast k n o w n e v i l . " I V . 20, n r . 2, o b v . 3 - 4 : GIS SI-GAR AZAG-AN-NA-GE
( K I T ) NAM-TA-E-GAL = sigar same elluti tapti, "thou hast opened the threshold of the shining heavens." Here NAM- is a positive prefix (see s. v. NAM-); TA = "in, within," and E gives the idea of finality as it does in most cases, whether it appears as a prefix or an infix. GA, I ; precative and conditional prefix; G, being cognate with cohortative x. H T . pp., 37 15 ff.: GA-BA-DA-AN-KU = lukul, " m a y I eat of it." II. 16, 42-44e: GA-NE-IB-GAR = luskun, " m a y I do i t " = NIB. Also II. 16, 53a: GA-GAR = luskun, "may I do (it)." For the conditional force of GA- see just below s. v. GAN-. T h e harmonic e q u i v a l e n t of GA- is GI(S)-, q. v.
-GA-, I I . For the infix -GA- = NGA = NA, see s. v. SIN-, GAN, I = GA + t h e r e m o t e o b j . -N. I I . 16, 5 3 - 5 5 : GA-GAR MU-DAAM-KAR GA-AN-DIRIG-GA A-BA MU-RA-AN-SIM = l u s k u n e k k i m u l u t -
tirma mannu inamdin, "if I do evil (and) if I increase it, who will pay thee for i t " ; RAN = "thee for it." IV. 21, 24-256: SA(LIB)AZAG-BI GA-AN-KU = libbasu ellim lunix, "let me pacify his pure heart." -GAN-, II, seems to be a dialectic form of the infix -NIN- = NGAN. Cf. H T . 119, obv. 18-19: IN-GA-AN-ZU = iltamad, reflexive; lit. "he learns i t " = GAN = NGAN = NAN. See also s. v. SIN. GIS, I, was probably pronounced GI with elimination of the final S, a s I I . 16, 43e: GI(S)-EN-GA-AN-KU = l u k u l , " m a y I e a t i t " = -N
and repeated in GAN = NAN. I n ibid,., 45e: GI(S)-EN-GA-NE-IB-GAR
S U M E R I A N
P R E F I X E S
A N D
I N F I X E S
57
= luskun, "may I do it," the NIB is the infix "it" and the GI(§)-GA is a double precative. G I ( S ) - E N = XEN. The same phenomenon seems to appear in G I ( S ) - S E - D I B ( L U ) = fabat, imper. "seize it," where GI(S)-E = GE = XE, with precative force. GIS, II, plainly stands for iz = the 2 p. as II. 16, lied; iz(GlS) G I N - ( D U ) - N E MU-UN-EL-(LU) = tallik tassa, "thou didst go and remove." Here iz = the finalizing vowel i + z, the element of the 2 p., as seen in ZA-E. The intercalated GIS construed with TUK = GIS-TUK, "have ear, hear," as V. 24, 38a: GIS-NU-TUK = ul i£me, "he heard not," must not be confused with GIS, I and II. XA = the cohortative element x, cognate with G, + A. Its harmonic equivalent is xu, q. v. II. 19, 15a: XA-RA-AN-BA-E = liqiska, "may he give it thee." XE = the cohortative element x + the finalizing vowel E, "may he do it definitely and finally." As a rule, cohortative phrases beginning with XE have this sense. Cf. the common expression XE-PA, "may it or thou be conjured"; HT. pp. 88/89, 20: XE-IM-MAAN-GABA-A = lu tappattar, "may thou make it free from sin." I V . 13, 13/146: X E - I M - M E - G A L ( I K ) = liskunka, "may he do it for thee." These examples seem to substantiate this idea. XE-EN = XE + the remote object -N, passim. x i appears in my collections only IV. 20, nr. 2, 1/2: DINGIR BABBAR AN-UR-RA XI-I-NI-BU = ''Samas ina isid same tappuxamma; in Assyrian, " 0 Samas thou hast shone in the foundations of the heaven," but XI-I-NI-BU must be precative with a finalizing i. The correct rendering of the Sumerian would seem to be: "do thou shine" or "mayst thou shine." xu-, I regard as a by-form of XA with vocalic harmonic change, V. 51, 22b: DINGIR E N - K I XU-MU-E-DA-XUL-LA = "Ea lixduka, "O Ea may they rejoice for thee," where the pref. xu- seems to harmonize with the following -MU. IV. 15, 45b: XU-MU-RA-AB-BI = liqbika, "may he speak it (-B) to thee ( - R A - ) " ; ibid. 476: SU-MU-RAAB-SIM-MU = liddinka, "may he give it thee"; RAB = "it to thee."
58
S U M E R I A N
P R E F I X E S
A N D
I N F I X E S
1-, identical in force with E-, q. v. and see ZA. X X I , 219; viz., "he did it and it is done." IV. 19, 19a: DAM-GIM I-GUB (DU) XULLA-XUL-LA-BI = kima atta tazzizzu xadu u risu (the Assyrian rendering is rather free), "as soon as thou takest thy stand, they (the people) exult and rejoice." Literally, it should be: "as soon as thou hast taken thy stand (completed action), they exult exceedingly" ( = XULLA twice). IB-, I, = the finalizing vowel + the near obj. -B, as IV. 22, 54/55a: IB-AK = epus, "he did it ( = -B) and it is done" = E - , in this case. II. 8, 53c: IB-ZI-GI-ES = issuxu, "they tore away"; II. 19, 16a: IB-TA-AN-ZI = issuxsu, "he removed it (-N) from there (-TA-)." IB-, II. When, however, the stem was reduplicated, the form with IB- could have a present signification, as IB-GA -GA = isak(kan), IV. 13, 22a. II. 40, 32g: IB-GI-GI = ippal, and so forth. It is probable that in these cases IB- was used harmonically for AB, q. v. = the continued perfect. Here a different tone was no doubt used. IM- = the vowel of finality I + the relating element M. IV. 6, 456: KI-TA IM-MI-IN-RI = saplis armema, "below I placed it" ( = the thing referred to before = MI + the remote obj. -N); the reference here is to a charm. HT, 127, obv. 35: IM-MI-MIR-(RA) = qadutu amxux, "the vessel I filled it." I I . 16, \6e: E R ( A - § I ) I M - M A - A N - S E S SES = tabakka, "thou wast weeping for it" ( = MAN). It seems clear that IM- generally has the same force as MU-; i. e., = the relating past, which it obtains by the relating and relative element -M-. IN, I, = the finalizing vowel i + the remote obj. -N. IN has practically the same force as E, I-, q. v. II. 11, 41a: IN-ZU = ilmad, "he learned it" (-N); passim. As an infix -IN- appears IV. 24, nr. 3, 22: KUR-RA NE IN-SI = matum taspun, "the land thou hast finally overthrown it" (-N). IN, II, may also be used for AN-, denoting the continued past action, just as IB-, II, appears for AB-, IV. 5, 33a: IN-GA-GA-MES = isakkanu, "they (continued to) make or do it." LA, an unusual negative prefix, evidently a Semitic loan form.
S U M E R I A N
P R E F I X E S
A N D
I N F I X E S
59
II. 15, 30a: LA BA-AN-§I-IN-DU = la imgur, "he did not favor." Also IV. 15, 1, 3, 33a. MA, I, similar in force to MU- = the relating element M + the directive vowel A; often in combination with IM. IV. 25, col. iv. rev. 43: IM-MA-RA-NI-IN-KU = ukannika. V. 50, 9a: IM-MA-RA-AB-LAXGI-ES = izzazzuka. See 5. v. MU, ME-. MA, II, It is probable that there is also a MA of the 1 p. = MA-E, " I . " See s. v. -MAB- II. MAB = MA, II, + the near obj. -B. IV. 10, 61: NA-AN-MU-USTUK-MA-AB = simananni, "do thou hearken to it for me"; MA, "for me" + the near obj. -B, "it." Also HT. p. 115, rev. 3: SA-NEDU SU-TE-MA-AB = liqe unnini, "accept for me my supplication"; MAB = "it for me." I am not certain whether MAB may not also be used like MAN-, q. v. as a mere impersonal relative infix. MAN = the relating element M + the remote obj. -N. HT. p. 126, col. ii. 20: XE-IM-MA-AN-GABA-A = lu tappattar, "thou shalt be freed from it" = MAN. II. 16, 16c: ER ( A - § I ) I M - M A N - § E S - S E § = tabakka, "thou weepest for it" = MAN. In each case, there is a relative allusion to what has preceded, the MA + N having practically relative force. In a number of passages MAN occurs after IM-. ME-, equivalent to MA-, MI-, MU-, q. v. See s. v. UMENI-. MI-, harmonic equivalent to MA-. II. 8, 64c: MI-NI-IN-SE = iddinsu; the relating past MI- = MU- + NIN + root SE = nadanu. -MIN-, harmonic equivalent of -MAN-. I V . 6, 45b: IM-MI-IN-RI
=
armema, " I placed it," -MIN- referring like -MAN- to something alluded to before. I V . 20, obv. nr. 25: GIS-GAL A N - N A - G E ( K I T ) GAL(IK)IM-MI-IN-TAK = dalat same tapta, "the door of heaven thou hast opened it" = MIN. MU- indicates the relating past like MI-, q. v. Thus ZA. XXI, 224. There can be little doubt, as indicated above, that M is the consonant used in pointing back to something mentioned previously, either, as is the case with MU-, in verbal narration, or, as is the case with -MAN-, -MIN-, in indicating a verbal object. I associate this verbal MU- with the suffix of the 1 p. = MA-E, " I " ; i. e., where
60
S U M E R I A N
P R E F I X E S
A N D
I N F I X E S
t h e M refers back to the speaker in direct oration, and I connect it even more closely with the relative MU-suffix discovered and explained by me, M S L . I. X X I , § 3. I n this latter case, t h e relative n a t u r e of the M is particularly a p p a r e n t . MUN,
I, = MU + the remote obj. -N. IV. 9, 5b: AG-GI-NA AG-SI-DI
MU-UN-MA-AL
= k i t t u u misári usabsá, " ( t h y word) justice a n d
right it has caused them to b e . " H e r e the object supplementary to k i t t u u misári is the -N in MUN. MUN, I I , = the relating MU + the negative element N = NU. IV. 23, 3c: BA-RA-MU-UN-GI = la t a n i a m m a . This negative MUN was p e r h a p s pronounced on a different tone from t h a t used for MUN,
I.
MU-NI-KA
= qibisumma = "tell(it)to h i m . " H e r e the MU- con-
tains the idea of relation or resumption and the infix -NI- is the d a t i v e " t o h i m . " See 5. v. U M E N I , U M U N N I . -NA- infix, either with d a t i v e force owing to the directive v o w e l A, or the remote object; see especially s. v. -SIN.
-NAB- is apparently a combination of the remote and near objects, i. e., of N and B, and, like its harmonic counterpart NIB-, q. v., apparently indicates the object without specification of its nearness or remoteness. I V . 1 0 , 1 6 : I - D I B ( L U ) M U - U N - N A - A B - B I
=
q u b é aqabbi, " t h e saying I say i t " ; perhaps NAB- here = "it(-B)to h i m " (-NA).
NAM-, I, is generally a negative = N of negation + the relating element M. Cf. IV. 10, 3b: NA-AM-MU-UN-GABA = ul anatal. IV. 13, 26b: DA-DA-A-TA NAM-BA-DA-AB-LAL-E
=
H e r e NAM is plainly negative, while
itti astüti la DAB repeats itti,
attada. "with
them." NAM,
I I , is not negative, as IV. 20, nr. 2, obv. 3 / 4 : GIS SI-GAR
AZAG-AN-NA-GE(KIT)NAM-TA-E-GAL(IK)
= sigar samé ellüti tapti,
" t h o u hast opened the threshold of the shining heavens, "where -TA-
indicates the idea within. IV. 1 6 , 39-40a: DINGIR-GAL-GAL-E-
NE-GE(KIT)NAM-XA-BA-RA-TAR-RU-DA
= iláni rabüti lirürusu, " m a y
the great gods curse h i m . " In these cases, NAM is a combination of
SUMERIAN
PREFIXES
AND
INFIXES
61
the remote demonstrative N + relative M and seems to be a prefix of the same force as BA-. A different tone must have been used for NAM, I, and NAM, I I . -NAN- appears as an infix of the reduplicated remote object, just as BAB-, q. v., is the reduplicated near object, NAN occurs passim. H T . p. 9 8 , 1. 5 6 : DINGER B A B B A R - R A X E - E N - N A - A N - T I = ''Samas liballitsu, " m a y Samas revive him." In X E N - N A N - T I , NAN with the hard vowel probably is used for differentiation. NE-, I, according to ZA. X X I , 230, has the same force as E-, q. v.,
V . 2 0 , n r . 2 , 9 : DINGER B A B B A R ME-LAM AN-NA
KUR-KUR-RA
= ''Samas melamme same matati taktum, "O Samas, glory of the heaven, thou hast covered the lands." IV. 30, 176: G U ( K A ) N E - D E = tassima, "thou hast spoken." See also just below s. v. NEN-. T h e harmonic equivalent is NI-. NE-DUL
NE-, II, has the same force as BA- or MU-, as IV. 10, 5b: D I M - M E -
= ilija remni attanasxur unnini aqabbi, " u n t o my merciful god I turn me; I make (it to thee) m y supplication." AL. 3 p. 136, rev. 5: KUR-KUR-RA UR-BI NE-IB-SI-SI-GI A R ( U B ) - R I - M U = sade iltenis asappan; tanadatua, "mightily the mountains I sweep away; (it is) my glory." The infix -NE- was usually the dative plural. I R - M U SA-LAL-SUD NIGEN-SI-IB S A - N E - G U B ( D U ) N E - R A - A B - B I
These two variant forces of NE- no doubt required different tones. Etymologically the pref. NE- seems to be identical with the pronoun NE = annu, "this one," IV. 25, c. iii. 54/55. as a prefix is quite common. IV. 24, nr. 3, 12/3: X U - L U X - X A = puluxtaka gallittum m a t a u nisi tarme, "with thy terrible fear thou hast overwhelmed land and folk." Here the literal translation from the Sumerian would be: "terrible fear land and people it ( = NE) has overwhelmed t h e m " (-N), where the remote object is indicated by -N. NEN-
M U - L U KUR-RA N E - I N - R I
-NESIN- is apparently a combination of NE + SIN, the s element indicating here the remotest object (see J. v. SIN-). IV. 5, 62a: AN-DA
NAM-EN-NA
KIS
AN-NA-GE(KIT)
MU-UN-NE-SI-IN-XAL-XAL-
LA = itti Anim belut kissat same izuzsunuti, " b y means of Anu, the
62
S U M E R I A N
P R E F I X E S
A N D
I N F I X E S
power of the host of heaven he has divided t h e m " = NESIN = "those things yonder"; "those there," referring to "host of heaven." NI- = harmonic equivalent of NE-, "he did it and it is done." Note that NI in combination with UMENI is clearly an objective prefix = the remote demonstrative N + finalizing vowel i. The infix -IN- is a frequent direct definite object. In old Sumerian = "therein" (ZA. X X I , 233). NI-, moreover occurs with the imperative. IV. 13, 56a: U-EL = akalu ellu akul, "pure food do thou eat it up," where NI seems to indicate finality or completeness of action. IV. 22, 3b: TUR-MU A-NA NU-NI-ZU = m a n mina la tidi, " m y son what hast thou not known": See s. v. xi- for another example of finalizing I- vowel. -NIB-, like its harmonic equivalent -NAB-, q. v., is a combination of the remote and near object and indicates the object without specification. It may sometimes mean "it (-B) to him" (-NI). I t occurs generally associated with the soft vowels: as IV. 17, 45a: BA-NI-IB-SI-DI-E = tu§tesir; IV. 22, nr. 2, 8: SI-NU-MU-NI-IB-DI-E = ul uSteSirSu; IV. 22, 54/55a: A-NA IB-AK A-NA-BI NU-UN-ZU A-NA BA-NI-IB-GI-GI = mina epus amelu suatu ul idi mini ipassax, and so forth. IV. 14, 20a: BA-NI-IB-KUR-RA = lusesib. Here the - N I B - , instead of -NAB- was probably used for differentiation. NI-KU-E
-NIN-, like its harmonic equivalent -NAN, q. v., is a reduplicated infix of the remote object and occurs passim usually with the soft vowels. V. 50, 47a: BA-NI-IN-SI = inarus; IV. 24, nr. 3, 6/7: MINI-EN-SID = tamnil, and so on. NIN, however, also appears, doubtless for differentiation with the harder vowels: IV. 8, 26b: BA-NIIN-KU = usesib. NU = the usual negative. IV. 7, 22a: NU-ZU = ul idi, "he knoweth not." Used with -N, IV. 11, 39a: NU-UN-TI = ul asbat, where the second -N seems to be a mere reduplication of the negative. In the same line, we find NU-UL-TI = ul asibat. See s. v. AN and AL. N U is frequently intercalated.
-RA-, I, with verbs denoting direction or continuity, is evidently
S U M E R I A N
P R E F I X E S
A N D
I N F I X E S
63
the same etymological element as RA = DU, "go." It is very common with verbs of this class and is not to be confused with -RA- = the ZA element of the 2 p. "thee," q. v. just below. Cf. in the bilingual list, HT. p. 64, ii. 13: BA-(RA-)BAL = ibbalkit, "he revolted, fell away from"; ibid.., i. 17: BA-RA-E = ufi, "he went forth." HT. p. 98, 1. 42: XA-BA-RA-E = lifgima, "may he go forth." IV. 27, 146: TU-XU AB-LAL-BI-TA BA-RA-AN-DIB(LU)-DIB-BI-NE = summati ina apatisina ibarru, "the doves in their nests they go to catch them." The infix -RA-, I, can also denote duration, as HT. p. 98, 1. 42: XA-BA-RA-AN-GUB-BA = (ina axati) lizziz, "may it continue to stand aside." -RA-, II, "for thee, to thee," a rhotacism for ZA, is also frequent. I V . 2 5 , c o l . i v , r e v . 4 3 : s u AZAG-GA-A-NI-TA IM-MA-RA-AN-NI-EN-KA
= ina qatasu elluti ukannika, "by his shining hands he has established thee." Thus the Assyrian translation, but in Sumerian lit.: "by his shining hand he has established it for thee"; RA = "for thee." I V . 17, 17a: S A ( L I B ) - Z U TA-KU-GA UD-DA SA-RA-DA-AN-GUB(DU) = ana nux libbika umisam izzazki, "for thy heart's peace daily he stands at thy side." Lit. in Sumerian: "daily he stands for thee with it" = "thy heart's peace"; DAN = "with it." RAB- = RA, rhotacism for ZA, "thee," + near obj. = -B; "it, him, her, them for thee." As a prefix, rare. IV. 7, 26/7/8/9: DENGIR M A R D U K A-NA NU-NI-ZU A-NA RA-AB-DAX-E = "Marduk mina la tidi mina lujipka, " 0 Marduk what dost thou not know; what can I add to thee" ( = "to thy knowledge")? The use of -RAB- as an infix occurs passim; as IV. 15, 456: XU-MU-RA-AB-BI = liqbika, "may he speak it for or to thee," repeating the obj. amat suati, "that word." IV. 18, nr. 2, rev. 8; 9; 256: 27; 42a: GA-MU-RA-AB-GU (KA) =lusanni, "may I relate it for thee" = RAB, not expressed in the Assyrian rendering. See s. v. - R I B - . The RA denoting direction, duration, and the RA of the 2 p. were probably uttered on different tones. -RAN-, I, = the RA of motion + the negative -N. HT. 90, ii. 71: BA-RA-AN-GI-E-NE = a itxu, "may they not approach." IV. 2, 25a:
64
SU M E R I A N P R E F I X E S A N D
INFIXES
= la tedixxi la tunakkar, "(against the body of the man, the son of his god) thou shalt not approach hostilely, thou shalt not act hostilely." BA-RA-AN-TE-GA-DA BA-RA-AN-GI-GI-NE
-RAN-, I I , = the RA of the 2 p- + t h e remote obj. -N. IV. 30, 8b: DINGIR
A-NUN-NA-GE
(KIT)-EN-E
KA SU-MA-RA-AN-GAL-LI-ES
=
•'Anunnaki appa ilabbinuka, "the Anunnaki bow down the face unto thee"; RAN, "it to thee." -RI- seems to be an harmonic variant of -RA-, q. v. IV. 22, 106: A SU-BA-E-RI-TI = me liqema, "do thou take water for thyself"; -RI- = -zi-, 2 p. -RIB-, harmonic variant of -RAB-, q. v. = "it to thee." V. 51, 24/256: XE-RI-IB-LAX-GA = linammirka, "may it shine (or be pure) for thee"; RIB = ZIB. SA-, like its harmonic equivalents si and su, q. v., seems to connote the idea location or direction. It is probably etymologically identical with the postpositive -su(KU), "unto," but sometimes "at, in." IV.
17, 1 7 a : S A ( L I B ) - Z U TA-KU-GA UD-DA SA-RA-DA-AN-
= ana nux libbika umisam izzazki (see s. v. -RA-, II). IV. 17, 38a: SA-RA-DA-GUB(DU) = izzazka, "he stands there ( = -DA) for thee" ( = -RA). In both these instances, SA = the locative directive element s + the directive durative vowel A. GUB(DU)
SI- = the harmonic equivalent SA, SU, q. v., with similar force. p. 135, obv. 3 5 : AN-NA SI-IM-GUB(DU) = saqis allak, "loftily I go (there)." Here si seems to be the locative directive prefix +
AL3.
IM =
MU, q. v. H T . p p . 1 2 5 , 13: DIM-ME-IR AN-NA MU-UN-SI-SI-SI-
(GI-ES) = ilani sa same ina taxaza izzaz(ka), "the gods of the heaven stand by thee in battle." Here -si- is locative = "even unto the battle."
= si + the near obj. -B. IV. 10, 5b: DIM-ME-IR-MU LIL-LAL= ana ilija remni attanasxur, "unto my merciful god I turn myself"; postpositive conjugation. Here SIB = " I there myself" = B near object + NIGIN, "turn" + -NAN, "it," repeating "myself"; viz., " I there myself turn it," an excellent example of infixed incorporative repetition. HT. p. 115, rev. 3: I-DE SIB
SUD NIGIN-NA-AN-SI-IB
SUMERIAN
PREFIXES
AND
INFIXES
65
zi BAR MU-UN-SI-IB = kenis ( = zi) naplisinnima, "look strongly upon me." H e r e LDE and BAR are the verb, "direct thy glance" = LDE; MU is probably the relating prefix + the remote object -N, referring to LDE, "glance"; si = " t h e r e " + -B, the nearer object; here = 1st per. " m e . " SIN- = the locative element si + the remote obj. -N. AL,3. p. 1 3 4 , o b v . 1 : AN SUD U D - A G ( R A M ) BIL-GIM SAR-KI-TA ZA-E SI-EN-GA-
= nur same sa kima isatim ina matim napxat attima, "the light of the heaven which glows like fire in the land art t h o u " (fem.). Here si- repeats ZA-E, "thou there" + -N, "with respect to it," repeating ina m a t i m ; -GA-, infix here, probably for NGA = NA, the remoter object repeating the -N in SIN; ME EN in this case = " t h o u " + BIL (NE) = napaxu, "glow." In IV. 7, 17a: E-A BA-SIIN-TU = ana bita erumma, "he entered into (-A) the house"; SIN, "into it," repeating ana biti. IV. 17, 40a: E N - E MA-E MU-UN-SI-INGJ-EN = belum iati ispuranni, " t h e lord hath sent me yonder"; SIN, "me (-N) there" = si.
ME-EN-BIL
su, the harmonic equivalent of SA, SI-, q. v. AL 3 . p. 134, obv. 7 / 8 : ZA-E TAR-ZI-DA SU-MI-NI-IB-SAR-SAR = kasi sule kitti ikarrabki, "as for thee (fem.) he approaches thee in the paths of righteousness." Here su is plainly directive; MI = the relating prefix MU; NIB = the indeterminate infix, here " t h e e " ; SAR-SAR = the present tense of karabu, "approach." -TA- = the locative infix, identical with the postpositive -TA. II. 19, 16a: IB-TA-AN-ZI = issuxsu, "he removed it (-N) from there" (-TA-). See also S. v. UM-. This -TA- must be carefully distinguished from -DA-, q. v. -DA- when locative = " t h e r e " ; -TA- always means "therein" or "from therein." u-, the harmonic equivalent of A-, like A-, seems to denote direction, means. H T . p. 127, 1. 41: GUN-GIN SAB-SAB-BA KA U-BA-NI-IN(DE) = beliku ina qabli asassima, " I am the mighty one; in the battle I shout" = direction: " I shout thither." H T . p. 120, rev. 31: U-UM-TAG-GA = alappatma, " I twist, t u r n " = direction. H T . p. 127, o b v . 3 9 : T A K
E-GI-ZAG-GA-KA ZAG-SAL U - B A - N I - E N - D U G ( K A ) -
66
S U M E R I A N
P R E F I X E S
AND
I N F I X E S
ga = ina igizange uktanni, "by means of the igizange I am established," or "confirmed" = means. IV. 19, 52b: ma-e e-ri-za u-gulan-ma-ma = anaku aradki utnenki, " I thy (fem.) servant do worship thee" = direction, inclination. um = u- + the relating continuing element -m. V. 50, 1, 3, 5a: UM-TA-i (UD-DU)-na-zu-su(KU) = ina ageka, "when thou goest forth"; lit. in Sumerian: um = continued action + ta, locative particle "from there" + t (UD-DU) = a j u + the phonetic complement -n (£n was the older form of the root) + zu, suffix of the 2 p. + the postposition -su(KU) = ina "in"; "when," here. umeni-, a directive combination = u-, q. v., + me, probably the harmonic counterpart of ma-, q. v., -f ni, the remote object. V. 22, 126: u-me-ni-si = "thou shalt fulfil it" = ni; ibid., 136: u-me-niri = ullilma "purify" (imper.). Perhaps um- was pronounced um in this connection with a soft vowel u. umunni-, the harmonic equivalent of umeni-, q. v. II. 39, 8e: u-mu-un-ni-ka = qibisumma, "say it to him"; mun = "it to him" + ni, "it," repeated. See 5. v. muni-.
AN A K K A D I A N
CRUCIFORM
MONUMENT1
T
HE PRESENT paper gives for the first time a transcription and translation of a text just published in CT, 2 X X X I I (1912), plates 1-4, copied from a cruciform stone object inscribed in twelve columns, partly historical and partly votive in character. The monument (B.M. No. A.H. 81-4-28, 118 B) was found at Abu Habba in 1881 and is a duplicate in Cols. I, II, III, and X I I of the fragment S. 3 in the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople. Cf. L. W. King, Sumer and Akkad, pp. 223 ff.3 As the first six lines of Col. I, which must have contained the king's name and titles, are no longer legible, it is impossible with absolute certainty to establish the reign in which the inscription was written, but, since Col. II, 1 ff. refers to Sarrukîn as the father of the writer, the latter has been identified by King as ManiStusu (loc. cit.). See Commentary on Col. 2:2; cf. V. Scheil, "Obélisque de Manistu-irba," Délégations en Perse, II, pp. 6 ff., for a longer inscription of this monarch. I regard the name Ma-an-is-tu-su (thus in Thureau-Dangin, Kdnigsinschr., p. 162, No. 7) as a combination of mannu iStutsu =
1 Reprinted from The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, X X I X (1913), 95-110. 1 The following abbreviations occur in this paper: Amiaud = A. Amiaud et L. Méchineau, S. J., Tableau comparé des (tritures babylonienne et assyrienne; Br. = Briinnow, A Classified List; CT. = Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, and so forth, in the British Museum; Lau = Rev. Robert Lau, Old Babylonian Temple Records, Columbia University Press, 1906; MA. = Muss-Arnolt, Assyrian-English Dictionary; Meissner = Bruno Meissner, Seltene Assyrische Ideogramme, Leipzig, 1910; MSL John Dyneley Prince, Materials for a Sumerian Lexicon, Leipzig, 1905; T D = François Thureau-Dangin, Recherche sur l'origine de l'écriture cunéiforme, Paris, 1898. ' King's Sumer and Akkad is not accessible to me, and I have, therefore, not seen his remarks on the connection between this text and Const. S. 3.
68
AN A K K A D I A N
CRUCIFORM
MONUMENT
iâtusu, "who can belittle him?" a probable Ifteal of sâtu 4 = nâcu = qullulu, "neglect, belittle." Names beginning with mannu are quite common and a grandiloquent epithet of this sort would be suitable for a royal formal name. It seems clear that the monarch of this inscription was a Semite (Akkadian) as the language of the document is Semitic, interlarded, especially in the votive records, with Sumerian words used ideographically, most of them in accordance with current formulae. Scheil (Délégations en Perse, II, p. 1) reads Manistu-irba (su = irba), a doubtful equivalent. The text is in bad condition in most places, which has made it necessary for me to leave some passages untranslated and to fill out others as seemed most appropriate to complete the sense. The inscription may be divided into the following sections: Col. I, 1-27: Name, titles, and record of the setting apart of a GAN in Ki$ for the goddess A-A. Col. I, 28-11, 30: Record of this king's conquest, first of his rebellious subjects, and then of the Elamitic provinces of Ansan and Kurikhum; facts hitherto unknown. Col. I l l , 1-25: Setting apart of glebe land and a restoration of E-Babbar and its sacrifices in Sippar. Col. I l l , 25-IV, 26: Arrangements for the proper support of a priestess of Samas and acceptance of this offering by the god who indicates when the gift should be presented. Col. IV, 27-V, 14: Appropriation of the treasures of certain places, among them Ab-sa-an-ki (Col. IV, 28), to Samas. Col. V, 15-X, 35: Record of the doubling by royal order of the offerings to Samas. See text for various commodities. Col. X I , 3 to about X I I , 10: special offerings by the king to Samas. See text. Col. X I I about 15 (? text erased) to X I I , 35 where the text breaks off: Imprecatory clauses against any person who might tamper with the offerings or deface the document. See CT, X X X I I , pp. 4-5, for a similar analysis of the text. 4
Like imtût from mâtu (fllO).
AN A K K A D I A N C R U C I F O R M M O N U M E N T
69
The characters are in archaic Babylonian, occasionally similar, however, to those of the Gudea texts. TRANSCRIPTION AND TRANSLATION COLUMN I
19. am-gi-a-a(m)
1. Lines 1-6 erased 7. (pa)-Ses (d A-nim)
I set apart.
Anointer of Anu
20. ZI-IB-ZI M A ( x ) T h e exalted faithful shepherd
8: (pa)-te-(si) priest-king
21.
9. (d) En-lil
the faithful guide (path)
of Bel;
10.
GIR-NITA(= representative
sakkanakku)
11. (d) A-mal of Amal;
12
gir-zi-zi-im
(GIR)-XUM ( L U M ) the fruitful foot(?) d
13. ( NIN) ili(NI)-tim
22. ana
(UD = Samas) for Samas 23. be-ili(NI) ili(NI)-a m y lord, m y god
24. u d A-A and A-A
25. kal-la-tim the bride
(of Nin&) the goddess
14 (ra)-bi-is
26. be-il(NI)-ti ili(NI)-a
mightily
15 (in) Kis-ki-im in Ki§ d
16. (a)-na A-A unto d A-A
17. (k)al-la-tim the bride
18. X I I
CAN X I I G A N (of land)
d
m y lady, m y deity
27. lu-e-pu-u(s). I made it.
28. ni-n(u) When
29. puxur
(SU-KIL) all the lands
m(a-ta-ti)
30. COLUMN II
1. (sa) a-bi which m y father
2. (m §a)r-ru-gi Sargon
3. (e)-zi-ba-am left (to me)
4. (a)-a-bi-is hostilely
5. (ib)-ba-alki-da-anni-ma rebelled against me,
70 AN A K K A D I A N C R U C I F O R M
18. An-Sa-an-ki
6. (ma)-am-ma-an
of Ansan
no one
7. (la iz)-zi-za(a)-am
19. u and
remained (faithful)
20. Ku-er-xu-um-ki
(d)A-A
8
MONUMENT
Kurikhum
am
21. it-ti
I (?) • • • 9. . . um-mani-a
with
22. max-bi his prince (s)
. . my troops
23. a
10. (u)-(g)i-na
and
I arrayed;
11. (aq)-cu-uc
24. (KI)-ta-a-tim( = mat-ta-atim)
I cut off
12. . . . ki
lands
the City . .
25. . . d UD Samas
13
(before) Samas 26.
14. . . . -ki
-(GI)R-A
the path
the City . . .
27
15. . . sag-giS-ra with destruction
-ib
28
16. (lu) e-be-el
29. (m Sar-ru-)gi
I subdued it
Sargon(?)
17. Sar
30
the king
COLUMN III
1. ge§ ( ? ) . . . . 2. in UD-KIB-
NUN-KI in Sippar
3. ga-(ga)-ra-am a plot of land
4. lu-u-saq-ru-u I made precious;
5. (gac)-ci (ZI) the white clay or gypsum (walls)
6. u and
7. tur-ra-tim breaches(?)
8. E-babbar of E-babbar
9. lu-u-ud-di-is I renewed;
10. Di-KA( = sattukku) (to) the regular offering
AN A K K A D I A N
CRUCIFORM
MONUMENT
11. a - n a MU-GUDU for long years
23. na-ap-(ta-an)
1 2 . DI-KA( = s a t t u k k u ) the regular offering
24.
a portion
13. lu-u-ra-ad-di
25. lu-bag-gi
I added;
I ordained.
14. IGI( = a-na pàn)tim-£i-lu
26. BE( = ana gimirti)
for a portion
I I I . GAN Altogether I I I GAN
15. ga- . . . . 15. ga-(ga-ra-am)
27. se-ba
the land (?)
for her grain
16. lu(?) . . .
28. SAL-ME
d Samas for the priestess of §ama5
I (set apart?)
17. ga-(ga-ra-am)
29. a-na
the land(?)
for
18. (blank line)
30. IGI ( = pan) tim-si- (lu)
19. ti-a-(ru)
a portion
cedars (or plants)? 20. 21.
(Samas) of SamaS d
31. ip-ri-ka-am-m (a)
su-ba-(rum) for the care of
one set apart.
32. a-na
UD-KIB-(NUN-KI) Sippar
Al-
33. BE(gimirti) I I I GAN
22. a- (na)
-together I I I GAN
as
COLUMN IV
1 2. -na3 . I USJ-TUR one male child 4.
( I ) SAL-TUR one female child
5. X KI ib-si-im-ma X plots of land shall be (to her)
6. la im-xu-ur let (no one) take it
7. u and
8. SAL-ME d a r - a - t i the eternal priestess 9 . GAN- SU with respect to that GAN
10. la ix-bi-lusi-ma they shall not molest her.
11. GAN dar-a-ti an eternal GAN
12. a-na ma-a-ti-ma for ever
72 AN A K K A D I A N C R U C I F O R M 13. lu-u-ta- (max) she shall hold.
14. a-na
d
(SamaS)
U n t o SamaS
15. be-ili(NI) ili(NI)-a m y lord, m y god
16. ga-ti lu-aS-si; m y hands I raised;
17. (su)-pil-ti m y supplication
18. (lu) iS-me he heard;
19. (na)-da-an (The time of) the gift
20. (i)-sar-im
22. in u(UD)-misu-ma I n that day 2 3 . GAN § u - a - t u that G A N
24. a-na as a
25. iz-za-a-ti strength (to me)
26. lu-u-te-max he accepts.
27. is-tum From
28. ab-sa-an-ki Absan
of the righteous man
21. (lu) ip-tia-am he revealed.
MONUMENT
29. a-ti unto
30 COLUMN V
1 2
-ud(?) da(?) (ku-er-xu-)um-ki Kurikhum
3
VIII (treasure of?) V I I I
4. uru-ki uru-ki cities
5. a-na d Samas For § a m a s
6. lu-us-sa-ru I rightly apportioned.
9. a-na for
10. (kuP)-si-tim covering(?)
11. -iz(?)-zumas(?)-si-im 12 -ik 13 -ma 14. lu-illa-gu they shall receive.
15. ma-ti-ma
7. -li-iksu-nu
16. in ma-tim
8. la ix-si-xu
17. na-ap-ta-an
Perpetually in the land
let them not ask (desire)
the portion
AN
18.
d
A K K A D I A N
C R U C I F O R M
Samas
M O N U M E N T
23. QIN UD I-kam as a portion of one day
for Samas
19. I bilru satti (MU) III of one young animal of three years old
20. na-ap-ta-an
24. bag-gi is appointed;
25. a-na unto
a portion
26. X kirre (LU)
21. UD III-kam
DI-KA
X lambs for sacrifice
for three days (has been).
27. X kirre (LU)
DI-KA
X lambs for sacrifice
22. I burn satti III (Instead of this) one young animal of three years old
28. (lu)-u-ra-ad-ti I added.
29. (not written)
COLUMN VI
1. X X kirre (LU)
DI-KA
12. in ma-(tim) in the land
X X lambs for sacrifice
2. QIN UD I-kam as a portion for one day
3. bag-gi are appointed;
4. a-na to
5. II
GUD . . .
6. II
GUD . . .
I I oxen (for sacrifice) I I oxen (for sacrifice)
7. lu-u-ra-ad-ti I added.
8. IV
GUD . . .
I V oxen (for sacrifice)
9. QIN UD I-kam as a portion for one day
10. bag-gi are appointed;
11. ma-ti-m(a) for ever
13. a-(na) as
14. na-ap-t(a -an) a portion
15.
d
(Samas)
for Samas
16. -UD(a portion for one) day
17. la i-ba-assu-u it shall be no longer;
18. IV
GUD . .
I V oxen . .
19. QIN UD (I-kam) as a portion for one day
20. bag-(gi)
are appointed
21-30. Illegible.
74 A N A K K A D I A N C R U C I F O R M
MONUMENT
COLUMN VII
1
17. bag-gi (To so much)
are appointed.
2. KU ( = qemu)
18. a-na
of flour
3. I
GUR
To
^ III (QA)
19. (I)
I G U R and i , I I I (QA)
4. KU ( = qemu)
20.
of flour
| XXX
(KU)-GU
21. I
I added.
GUR J
XXX
QA
I G U R and 2, X X X QA
6. I l l . . . 7-9. Illegible. 10. I
22.
(KU)-GU
of bean-flour(P)
23. (lu)-u-ra-ad-ti I added.
(To) one (GUR)
24.
KU-AB
. . GUR KU-GU
. . G U R of bean-flour(?)
of house-flour
12. I
GUR § X X X (QA) I G U R and J, X X X (QA)
25. (QIN) UD I-kam
13.
KU-AB
26. (ba)g-gi
a portion for one day is appointed.
of house-flour
14. lu-u-ra-ad-(ti)
27. (a)-na
I added.
15.
QA
X X X QA
of bean-flour(?)
5. lu-u-ra-(ad-ti)
11.
GU*
I G U R and
To
I l l GUH K U - ( A B )
28. (I GUR) I X X X (I GUR) and
I I I G U R of house-flour
16. QIN UD I-kam
QA
X X X QA
29. (KU-LIG) sarri
a portion for one day
of high-grade coarse flour COLUMN VIII
1. I 2.
GUK
i
XXX
QA
(KU)-LIG
sarri
(KU)-LIG
high-grade coarse flour
sarri of high-grade coarse flour
3. lu-u-ra-ad-ti I added.
4.
5.
I G U R i , X X X QA
6. QIN UD I-kam a portion for one day
7. bag-gi. is appointed.
(KU)-(L)IG
8. (a)-na
coarse flour
To
AN A K K A D I A N C R U C I F O R M 9. (I) GUR
\
X X X QA (I) GUR and J , X X X QA
10. ka-lum
20. bag-gi.
are appointed.
21. (a)-na
of dates
11. . . A-TIR in storage,
12. (I) GUR
MONUMENT
\
To
22. X X X V QA X X X QA
(I) GUR and J , X X X QA
13. (k)a-lum of dates
X X X V QA
23. NI-GES of vegetable oil
24. X X X V QA X X X V QA
14. . . A-TM
in storage
15. lu-u-ra-ad-ti I added.
16. Ill GUR
I I I GUR
17. (ka)-lum of dates
18. . . A-TER in storage
19. QIN UD I-kam
a portion for one day
25. NI-GES of vegetable oil
26. lu-u-ra-ad-ti I added.
27. I BAR NI-GES I B A R of vegetable oil
28. (QIN) UD I-kam
a portion for one day
29. (bag)-gi
is appointed.
COLUMN IX
9. bag-gi.
1
2. X X X . . . QA
To X X X ( V ) - Q A
3. NI-DUG-GA of pure oil
4. X X X V QA X X X V QA
5. NI-DUG-GA of pure oil
is appointed.
10. a-(na) To
11. X X X V (qa) X X X V QA
12. NI-(?) of . . oil
6. lu-u-ra-ad-ti
13. X X X V Q(A)
7. I BAR NI-DUG-GA I BAR of pure oil
14. NI-(?)
8. QIN UD I-kam
15. lu-u-ra-ad-(ti)
I added.
a portion for one day
X X X V QA
of . . . oil I added.
76 AN A K K A D I A N CR
CIFORM
MONUMENT
16. I BAR NI-(?) I B A R of . . . oil
26. QIN UD I-kam
17. QEN UD I-kam
27. bag-gi.
a portion for one d a y
18. bag-gi. is appointed.
19. a-(na) To
a portion for one day is appointed.
28. a-(na) To
29. XXXV (QA) X X X V QA
20. XXXV (QA) X X X V QA
21.
GA of milk
22. XXXV QA X X X V QA
23.
GA of milk
24. lu-u-ra-ad-ti
30. GA-A-(GA) of Strippings
31. XXXV QA X X X V QA 32. GA-A-G(A) of Strippings
33. lu-u-ra-ad-ti I added.
I added.
25. I
BAR GA I B A R of milk
34. I BAR GA-A-(GA) I B A R of Strippings
COLUMN X 1. (QIN UD I - k a m ) a portion for one d a y
9.
(QiN)-UD-I-kam a portion for one day
2.
bag-gi. is appointed.
10.
bag-gi. is appointed.
3.
(a-na) To
11.
(a)-na To
4. XXXV QA
12. (X)XXV QA X X X V QA
X X X V QA
5.
GA-T(U) of beestings
6. XXXV
13.
(GES)-AL-UD-DU of G E S - A L - U D - D U
QA GA-TU X X X V QA of beestings
14. (X)XXV QA
7.
lu-u-ra-ad-ti I added.
15.
(GES)-AL-UD-DU of G E S - A L - U D - D U
8.
I BAR GA-TU I B A R of beestings
16.
(lu)-u-ra-ad-ti I added.
X X X V QA
AN A K K A D I A N C R U C I F O R M
MONUMENT
17. I BAR GES-AL-UD-DU I B A R of G E S - A L - U D - D U
26. QIN UD I-kam
18. QEN UD I-kam
27. bag-gi.
a portion for one day
19. bag-gi. is appointed.
20. (a)-na X V QA T o X V QA
21. dispi pici of white honey
22. X V QA
77
a portion for one day are appointed.
28. (a)-na X V QA T o X V QA
29. GES-GUD of G E S - G U D
30. X V QA GES-GUD X V QA of G E S - G U D
31. lu-u-ra-ad-ti I added.
X V QA
23. dispi pici of white honey
24. lu-u-ra-ad-ti. I added. 2 5 . X X X QA dispi pici X X X QA of white honey
32. X X X QA GE§-GUD X X X QA of G E S - G U D
33. QIN UD I-kam a portion for one day
34. bag-gi. are appointed.
35 COLUMN X I
Lines 1-2, illegible. 3 4. . . ma-na . . minas
5. . ta-a-an (so many)
6. . kaspi
) X minas
8. TU xuráfi of T U of gold
9. (a)-na
d
Samas
to Samas
10. (be)-ili(NI) ili(NI)-a my lord, my god
11. U d A-A and A-A
the bride
13. be-il-ti ili(NI)-a my lady, my deity
14. (lu) a-ki-is. I gave.
15. I l l SAR-GAL-GAL I I I great wrappers
of silver
7. ( ) X ma-na ta-a-an (
12. kal-la-tim
16. SAR xu-un-ti wrappers of warmth
17. SAR arax BIL-BIL-SA( = ABU) wrappers of the month Ab
18. SAR PIN-GAB-A = (Araxsamnu) wrappers of the month Marchesvin
19. I SAR I wrapper
78
AN
20.
-I
A K K A D I A N
KU-SA-BIL
C R U C I F O R M
29. a-na
. 1 garment of warmth
M O N U M E N T d
Samas
to Samai
21. pi-gi-tum a white one
30. be-ili(NI) ili(NI)-a
22.
31. Ù d A-A
I
KU-SA-BIL
my lord, my god
one garment of warmth
23. sa-am-tum
and A-A
32. kal-la-tim
a dark one 24.
I
?
KU-GA
the bride
33. be-il(NI)-ti ili(NI)-a
I ? KU-GA 25. I G U ( T I K ) t a - a - a n I GU (weight)
26. TU kaspi of T U of silver
27. X X X ma-na ta-a-an X X X minas 28.
T U XUR&CI
my lady, my deity
34. Iu a-ki-i§. I gave. 35.
. GUD-UD-A
36.
. .
37 ?? 38. I ta-a-an GUD (for) one ox
of T U of gold COLUMN
1
XII 26.
I l l ta-(a-an) III (oxen)
2. lu-bag-(gi). I appointed
3. u a-(na ?) and for .
4. in GES . . . 5. xi-im- . . . 6. in G E § - . . . 7. ft da- . . . 8. lu ad9. ad- . . . 10. K I (or DI) Lines 11-23, illegible 24. za-ki-ki-im (in) storm
25. li-im-tu-ut may he perish;
P-UD-A
d
NIN-XAH-SAG-GÂ
may NIN-XAR-SAG-GÀ
27. in ma-ti-su in his land
28. a-la-da-am birth
29. li-ip>-ru-uc cut off.
30. §u-u li-er-is He when he plants
31.
d
Adad
may Adad
32. li-max-xi-iç smite him.
33. ù and
34 35. ù and
....
AN A K K A D I A N C R U C I F O R M M O N U M E N T
79
COMMENTARY COLUMN I
"fruitful foot." GIR-XUM occurs C T . X E X , 1 8 , 2a. See also II R . 4 8 , la: GIR-XUM = du-; perhaps = gub-ru, "mighty one" (?). Lit. "fruitful" (XUM) + unnubu, "spring up, sprout," + GIR, "foot," passim. 15. Kis-ki-im clearly = KiS. Note the mimation. An evidence that -ki was pronounced, at least in such a combination as this. Maniitusu was king of KiS; Thureau-Dangin, Konigsinschriften, p. 162, No. 7, A. See above, Introduction, for the name. 19. am-gi-a-a(m). I regard this as a verb form from the same stem (maku, maqu) seen in mekku, mikku, "enclosure," MA. 635. As the -am is somewhat defaced, it might be permissible to read here ga-ga (GI = ga) -a-am, a possible word for "ground" (?), i. e., "XII CAN of land," but GAN itself connotes "land." 20. ZI-IB-ZI MAX. This may be a variant of SIB-ZI, "faithful shepherd," Gudea, B., Ill, 9 + MAX = ciru, "exalted." 21. Gir-zi-zi-im. GER = padanu, "path," Br. 9191 and tallaktu, "course," Br. 9193. ZI-ZI, reduplication of ZI = kenu, "faithful" + the Semitic mimation. This expression was clearly regarded as a Semitic loan word. 12. G I R - X U M ( L U M ) ,
COLUMN II
2. (Sa)r-ru-gi = Sar-ukin (GI) was the father of the king of this document, whom King, probably correctly, therefore identifies as Manistusu (Sumer and Akkad, pp. 223 f.). There are only three other brief records of Maniitusu; viz., a mace bearing the inscription: (1) Ma-an-is-tu-su, (2) sar, (3) Kisim, (4) a-na, (5) d Ni-na-a, (6) a-mu-ru, "M. king of Kis for the goddess Nina made it"; a vase with an identical legend, except that the dedication is to be dBel; and an obelisk or stele (Scheil, op. cit.). 10. (u)-(g)i-na = ukin, "I established, arrayed." 15-16. SAG-GIS-RA lu ebel, "I overwhelmed them with destruction." Cf. Meissner, 2336: SAG-GIS-RA = maxafu, "smite."
80 A N A K K A D I A N C R U C I F O R M
MONUMENT
20. Ku-er-xu-um-ki ; evidently Kurikhutn. Is this identical with Kur-xi-i, Tig. I l l , 41, associated with mat Xa-ri-a? The name also occurs here in Col. V, 2, q.v. 21-22. itti max-bi; I render itti rubê-su; MAX = rubû, Br. 1046. The sense is that the king brought them all in as prisoners. 24. Evidently KI-ta-a-tim, an unusual writing; to be read: mat-ta-a-tim. 26. (GI)R-A; cf. above, commentary on Col. I, 21. mit
COLUMN III
4. lu-u-saq-ru-u ; lit. "I made precious" = " I made sacred," from aqâru. 5. (gac)-ci(zi), apparently gaz-zi. Gaccu = "white clay" or "gypsum." 7. tur-ra-tim perhaps = "breaches," from tarâru, "shatter." 10. DI-KA = sattukku, "regular offering." 11. MTJ-GUDU, "long (extensive) years"; MU = sattu + GUDU, for which cf. Meissner, 6072: = rupustu, "extensive." The Sumerian word GUDU may be connected with GID = arâku, "be long." 13. lu-u-ra-ad-di, " I added"; here written with di, but with -ti, Col. V, 28 et passim. 14. IGI; cf. Col. I l l , 30 and for the sign, see TD. 101. I regard the ideogram as prepositional. tim-si-lu, written nim-si-lu, probably a variant of tamsilu, "likeness, equal." I render "portion," as the word may mean "equality, share." See also Col. I l l , 30. 19. ti-a-(ru) or ti-a-(tu) respectively "a sort of cedar," or "a kind of garden-plant." In Br. 4345: SAR = tiaru, but in this inscription Col. XI, 15, SAR = "wrapper" (garment), and this word may have the same meaning here. 20. su-ba-(rum) really "protégé," but cf. IV R. 48, 30a: subaraâunu uqinnu, "they took care of them." 23. nap(tan) really = "meal, feast," but in this style of inscription "portion."
AN A K K A D I A N C R U C I F O R M
MONUMENT
81
25. lu-bag-gi and passim bag-gi = lu-paq-qi, with Bab. b for p, g for q, from paqft, "ordain, appoint." See commentary on Col. V, 24, et passim. 26. BE = gimru, Br. 1501. The equivalent Semitic expression is either ana gimriSu or ana gimirti. Cf. Col. I l l , 33 a-na BE = ana gimirti or gimri. 28. SAL-ME = isippitu; IV R. 50, 44; fem. of ME = i5ibb(pp)fl, "priest, enchanter" in general. See also Col. IV, 8. 30. IGI = (ana)pan, "for"; cf. commentary on Col. I l l , 14. tim-Si-lu; cf., commentary on Col. I l l , 14. 33. BE; see commentary on Col. I l l , 26. COLUMN IV
5. X K I = X qaqqari, Br. 9634: "plots of land." In Col. IV, 9 GAN refers to this allotment. 6. im-xu-ur; im written with sign KABAR for imxur, from maxaru, "take, receive." The sense seems to be that the priestess shall have one male and one female attendant and.X qaqqari which shall not be sequestrated under any pretense. Note Col. IV, 10: "they shall not molest her." The subject of imxur is clearly not the SAL-ME.
9. GAN, passim, refers to the X qaqqari in Col. IV, 5. 17. (su)-pil-ti must = "supplication"; really = "submission"; sometimes "answer." 21. (lu) ip-ti-a-am; lit. "he opened"; i. e., he showed when the gift of the pious king should be given. 24-25. a-na iz-za-a-ti, "for strength"; unusual form for uzzatu, from ezezu. 26. lu-u-te-max, "he accepts"; lit. "he seizes"; tamaxu. 28. Ab-sa-an-ki, name of a locality. 29. a-ti; probably = a-di, "until." The sense is: "from Absan-ki to . . . Kurikhum, eight cities (Col. V, 3-4) I subdued to SamaS" (Col. V, 6).
82 A N A K K A D I A N C R U C I F O R M
MONUMENT
COLUMN V
8 ff. la ix-si-xu; the sense is: they need not ask for covering (?); i. e., for their property, as it has been taken from them for a more worthy purpose. They have been forced to yield it to §ama§ by the king. 10. (kuP)-si-tim, "covering," from kasti. See just above. 14. lu il-la-gu, "they shall take, receive, "from liqfi, with Bab. g for q. The sense is, that the priests of Samas shall receive this treasure. 19. bfiru = AMAR (see Prince, MSL., s.v. AMAR), "young of animal." For the sign, cf. Amiaud, 249. 23. QEN = sipru, Br. 10753; 'uru, "order, arranged," Br. 10757; tirtu, "law, ordinance," Br. 10756. I t means "allotted portion," passim. 24. bag-gi; abbreviation in the jargon of the lists for u-bag-gi = upaqqi. See on Col. I l l , 25. 28. lu u-rad-ti, passim for u-rad-di, as in Col. I l l , 13. COLUMN VI
17. la i-ba-as-su-u; the sense is: "it shall be no longer as it was, for this is an increase." COLUMN VII
11. KU-AB, "house-flour"; AB = ES = bitu, "house," passim. 20. ( K U ) - G U ; Lau, "bean-flour" (?); Thesis, p. 11, No. 68. Why? GU primarily = "knot, cord" Semitic qu; Prince, MSL. 156. 29. KU-LIG sarri; lit. "strong flour of the king." Lau, I think, is right in rendering "coarse high-grade flour." COLUMN VIII
11. A-TIR; in Str. 8966: sa-as- = A-TLR. This is probably sasqG, Br. 14288: mandi as-a-an. In Scheil, Notes d'epigr., No. 24, Rec. travaux, X I X , p. 46, we find bit ma-an-du, which he translates
AN A K K A D I A N C R U C I F O R M M O N U M E N T
83
"lieu de dépôt" from nadû? If sasqû-sasqû = mandû, then Sasqû may mean "storehouse dates." 23. NI-GES, "oil of a plant" = "vegetable oil"; the ordinary oil of commerce. 27. I BAR. Note that BAR before QA = "ten"; sometimes = j , but here it clearly means a measure of quantity. In each case here it denotes "seventy," i. e., twice XXXV. COLUMN IX
3. NI-DUG-GA, "refined oil"; probably oil for food. 30. GA-A-(GA) lit. Sizbu arkû, "after-milk." This can only mean "strippings"; i. e., the result of the after-milking to clean out the udder. It is much in demand today in the country for tea and coffee. COLUMN
x
5-6, 8. GA-TU = sizib alâdi, "milk of birth" = "beestings"; i. e., the milk drawn from the cow after calving, which is frequently boiled and eaten as a sort of soup. 13. GES-AL-UD-DU; GE§-AL = GE§-PIN, Br. 5750; a sort of vegetable. AL-UD-DU alone = napâtu = nabâtu, "shine." Perhaps this refers to beets, owing to their brilliant color. 21, 23. dispu, "honey"; for the sign cf. TD. 357. 32. GES-GUD. I cannot explain; = a vegetable. COLUMN XI
7-8. X ma-na; "ten minas of TU of gold"; cf. Col. XI, 26. This TU is the TU similar in form to TE, TD. 220, and is usually employed in combinations like MAR-TU, MÀ (elippu)-TU. In these lines it is descriptive of xurâçu, and is entirely distinct from TU in TD. 143-144; 145. 15. SAR-GAL-GAL, "great wrapper" (garment), SAR must mean some sort of enveloping garment, as it = katâmu, Meissner, 2854. See on Col. I l l , 19.
84 A N A K K A D I A N
CRUCIFORM
MONUMENT
16. SAR xu-un-ti, "wrappers of w a r m t h " ; MA. 327 = " h e a t " (?) = li'bu "fever heat." 17. SAR arax B I L - B I L - S A , "a wrapper of the month Ab." 18. SAR arax P I N - G A B - A , " a wrapper of the month Araxsamnu = Marchesvan." Note that the writer uses the later names of the months and not those given as Old Babylonian by Radau, Early Babylonian History, p. 306. 20. x u s a B i L = cubatu sa isati, "a garment for fire" = " w a r m t h . " 24. KU-GA(?); some sort of garment. 26. One TU of silver; see on Col. X I , 8. COLUMN
XII
24. This is the broken passage closing the document, invoking curses on whatever successor of the king may dare to injure this monument. The first and last parts are mutilated. INDEX TO COMMENTARY 5 Absan-ki, IV, 28 d Amai, I, 11 am-gì-a-am, I, 19 aqâru, II, 4 a-ti, IV, 2 9 A-TIR. VIII, 11 bag-gi, V, 24, et passim BAR, VIII, 27 basû, VI, 17 B E , III, 2 6
GIR-A, I , 2 1 a n d I I , 2 6
Gir-zi-zi-im, I, 21 GIR-XUM, I , 12 MU-GUDU, I I I , 11 DI-KA, I I , 10
IV, 9 gaccu, III, 5
dispu, X, 21 ; 23 ZI-IB-ZI-MAX, I, 20 xu-un-ti, XI, 16 xasâxu, V, 8 ff. IGI, III, 14 izzati with ana, IV, 24-25 kânu (ugina), II, 10 Ki-qaqqaru, IV, 5 Kis-ki-im, I, 15 Kl-ta-a-lim, II, 24
GA-TU, X , 5 ; 6 ; 8
KU-AB, V I I , 11
GE§-AL-UD-DU, X , 1 3
KU-GA, X I , 2 4
GES-GUD, X , 3 2
KU-GU, V I I , 2 0
( « " ) BIL-BIL-SA, X I , 17
bûru, V, 19 GA-A-GA, I X , 3 0 GAN,
1
R o m a n n u m e r a l s signify columns, a n d arabic numerals signify lines.
AN A K K A D I A N C R U C I F O R M KU-LIG, V I I ,
MONUMENT
PIN-GAB-A, X I ,
29
18
ku-si-tim, V, 10 Ku-er-xu-um-ki, II, 20 k u sa b i l , XI, 2 0 liqû, V, 14 MAX, II, 2 1 - 2 2 maxâru, IV, 6 mandû, VIII, 11
paqû, I I I , 25 et passim pitû, IV, 21 q i n , V, 23 el passim qaqqaru, IV, 5 radû, I I I , 13; V, 28 subaru, I I I , 20
Mu-GUDU, I I I ,
sasqû, VIII, 11
11
mat (Kl)-ta-a-tim, II, 24 nap(tan), III, 23 NI-GES, VIII, 2 3 NI-DUG-GA, I X , 3 SAG-GlS-RA, I I , SAL-ME, I I I ,
15-16
28
SAR-GAL-GAL, X I ,
sattukku, II, 10 pan, III, 3 0
15
supilti, IV, 17 Sar-ru-gi, I I , 2; I I , 29 ti-a-ru, I I I , 19 ti-a-tu, I I I , 19 tamâxu, I I I , 26 tim-si-lu, I I I , 14; I I I , 30 TU,
XI,
7-8;
XI,
tarâru, I I I , 7 tur-ra-iim, I I I , 7
26
TATAR
MATERIAL
IN
OLD
RUSSIAN1
I
T S E E M S to have been a characteristic of Russia from the earliest times until the present moment to take a morbid pleasure in her own failures. Whatever one may think in
general of Stephen Graham's 2 opinions regarding Russia, he was certainly correct in emphasizing the prevalence of what may be termed the gospel of incompetency among the Russians of to-day. Public sympathy has been at all times in Russian history with the unsuccessful, rather than with the triumphant hero, and nowhere is this disconcerting trait more cogently evident than in some of the literature of the old Russian period, best exemplified by the " E p i c of Igor," or, more fully, the " T a l e of the Armament of Igor" (1185 A. D.).3 This poem relates in grandiloquent style, often verging upon that of a Scandinavian Saga, the defeat of the ancient Russian Prince Igorj 4 Svjatoslavic by the well-disciplined T a t a r hordes of the Polovtsy in southern Russia. The epic abounds with words and other traces of the influence of this and perhaps of 1 Reprinted from Proceedings American Philosophical Society, L V I I I (July, 1919), 74-88. 1 Stephen Graham, The Way of Martha and the Way of Mary, London, 1915. * The name Igor (Igorj), like so many other princely names of this period, is pure Norse ( = Ingvar); cf. Rjurik = Hrorekr; Truvor = Thorvardr; Oleg = Helgi; Rogvolod = Rognvaldr, and so on. For the poem, cf. L. A. Magnus, The Tale of the Armament of Igor, Oxford, 1915. 4 The phonetic system of transcription in the present article is essentially the SerboCroatian. Note, howeyer, that the apostrophe is used to denote the Russian hard sign = stop or short vowel (Sckwund) and that the j after a consonant = palatilization (Russian soft sign). The Russian vowel yery ( = »in English lid) is represented by y. As regards the abbreviations, C = Cumanian; CC = "Codex Cumanicus"; OR = Old Russian; OS = Old Slavonic, and R = Russian; ZDMG = Zeitschrift der deutschen Morgenliindischen Gesellschaft.
TATAR M A T E R I A L IN OLD R U S S I A N
87
other Tatar civilizations, a fact which is all the more interesting, because this literature antedates by about two generations the advent of the Golden Horde under the successors of Jenghis Khan. These rulers held the Russians in well organized tributary thralldom for nearly two centuries (from 1223 A. D.). As attention to the oriental material in Russian has been called quite recently, perhaps for the first time in English, by Mr. Magnus, I have in the present paper ventured to advance some of my own views as to this subject and to emphasize the points regarding which I am at variance with the work of that scholar, as well as to set forth some of the facts now established with tolerable certainty concerning this early period of Slavo-Turkic intercourse. The information herein gathered is not intended to be exhaustive and may be supplemented on the lexicographical side from such works as Berneker's Slavisch-Etymologisches Wörterbuch and Radloff's Wörterbuch der Türk-Dialekte. The first question confronting the student of this Tatar 5 influence in Igor is that of the identity of the Pólovtsy, who appear throughout the Epic as the successful and often not unchivalrous foes of the adventurous hero and his company. We have direct and convincing evidence in the Chronicle of Nestor (1096) as follows: "And Ismael begat twelve sons, whence come the Turks, Pecenegs 6 (White Huns), Torks (remnants of the Peéenegs) and Kumans, that is to say the Pólovtsy who 'came out of the desert.' " In other words, the Turkic tribes known to us as Cumanians were identical with the Pólovtsy. It is highly probable that the word Kuman is a popular etymology from qum, "sand," indicating that these tribes originated in the sandy steppe: i. e., ' Tatar is a name generally applied to all Turkic, Mongolian and Hunnic tribes; in short, to every oriental non-Russian people in the former Russian empire. See below, n. 10. Turkish of practically every variety is more or less intelligible in essentials to all the Turkic tribes. Hunnic (Finno-Ugric), however, differs very much in its various dialects. • The Pefenegs, or White Huns, were also called Bisseni, Bysseni, Haifim/arai in Arabic Badiak, and so on. Cf. A nna Comncna, Bonn ed., p. 404: rpóatiai roh Kanívon ús ó)i¡ay\úaaoii, "they are very close linguistically to the Cumanians."
88
TATAR
MATERIAL
IN OLD
RUSSIAN
"came out of the desert," but that the original of the word was Kurt = Hun. Our chief source of information as to the idiom of these Kumans or Cumanians is the Codex Cumanicus,7
edited b y the Hungarian
Count Geza Kuun, and, in spite of m a n y errors, a most valuable record of the speech of the Cumanians, giving a sketch of the grammar, word-lists, and texts with late Latin-Persian-Cumanian in the first part, and Cumanian-Old-German in the second part. 8 Besides this, mention should be made of the brief "Interpreter of the Language of the P ô l o v t s y , " found in a Russian manuscript of the sixteenth century, 9 which gives a small number of so-called Pôlovtsian words with Russian translation. As to the term "Pôlovtsy" itself, it would seem to be a cognate with the race-term "Palocz," found in the Hungarian Chronicle, used interchangeably with Kun = H u n =
Kuman. 1 0 In the Chronicle of Nestor, the
word Pôlovtsy was plainly associated with Slavonic polje, "field"; 7 Comes Geza Kuun, Codex Cumanicus bibliothecac ad templum dim venetiarum, Budapest, 1880; Additamenla ad Codicem Cumanicum, nova series, Budapest, 1883; W. Radioff, Das türkische Sprachmaterial des Codex Cumanicus, St. Petersburg, 1887 (Académie impériale des sciences), criticized by W. Bang in the following works: "Beiträge zur Erklärung des Komanischen H y m n u s , " in Nachrichten der kim. Ges. der Wissensch, zu Güttingen, philologisch-historische Klasse, 1910, pp. 61-78; Über einen komanischen Kommunionshymnus," in Académie royale de Belgique, Bruxelles, 1910, pp. 1-12; Zur Kritik des Codex Cumanicus, Librairie universitaire des trois rois, Louvain, 1910, pp. 1-17; "Beiträge zur Kritik des Codex Cumanicus," in Académie royale de Belgique, Bruxelles, 1911, pp. 13-^0. 8 As Bang has pointed out ("Beiträge," pp. 32 ff.), the first p a r t of the Codex was probably written by Italians and the second half by Germans, both parts having been composed under Franciscan influence, as is evident from the prominence accorded to St. Francis. T h e scope of the work was undoubtedly missionary and not commercial, as the chief stress in the vocabulary and texts is laid on religious material. T h e Codex in both parts belonged to the library of the poet Petrarch, 1350-70. Before t h a t date, the documents were in the possession of one Antonius de Finale (Codex, p. 218). Both parts were probably brought from the Black Sea missions to Italy, where t h e manuscript was compiled and edited by Genoese and Venetians. It seems clear that this Codex had nothing to do with the Cumanians settled in Hungary, who kept their idiom as late as 1744. 9 P. K. Simoni in Proceedings of the Department of the Russian Language and Literature of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, VIII, 179-91; 185-97, St. Petersburg, 1909. 10 See Friedrich Hirth, Die historisch-geographischen Beweise der Hiung-nu — Hun Identität, Budapest, 1910, and cf. also his Ancient History of China (New York, 1908), pp. 31-35.
TATAR M A T E R I A L IN OLD
RUSSIAN
89
hence "desert"; but polje is a soft noun and would have produced the derivative poljevec and never polovec. A brief examination of the material found in the "Interpreter" mentioned above and a comparison with the Cumanian of the Codex and with modern Osmanli will satisfy the most cursory reader as to the true Turkic character of the Cumanian-Polovtsy language. POLOVTS IAN INTERPRETER
CUMANIAN
OSMANLI
ENGLISH
tengri11 kok kujas (probably error for kunjas) jluduz12 aan13 kar amgur suuk isi14
tengri kok kujas
tarigri kjòk (gjòk) giines
God heaven sun
etmenk
juldus jildiz ay ay k(j)ar kar yamgur jaghmur suk, saok, saogh souk (soghuk) ysyq isi hot ekmek (original etmek) et mac
star moon, month snow rain cold light (sydzak, hot) bread
The grammatical structure of the Cumanian was also strikingly similar to that of Sart and Osmanli, as may be noted from the following few examples of the pronouns, nouns, and tenses of the verb: 11 In the "Interpreter," the first vowel is the thirty-ninth letter of the OS alphabet, often wrongly transcribed ja in Russian. Its real value was a nasal e, as in eng ( = Polish nasal e), but the vowel frequently corresponds to Russian ja. For a similar comparison between Cumanian and Tatar, see the work cited above, n. 9, and note the incorrect vocalization in tjagri, op. cit., p. 191. This universal Turkish word is very probably connected with the ancient Sumerian dingir, "God" (soft form dimmer) -, cf. Prince, Materials for a Sumerian Lexicon, (Leipzig, 1909), p. VIII. 11 Scribal error for jtildttz = julduz. 13 Written aan; evidently scribal error for aai. '* Isi = ysy, with obscure vowel y; not is (Radloff, op. cit., p. 120). Radloff's readings of the Codex are not always trustworthy.
90
T A T A R M A T E R I A L IN OLD
RUSSIAN
PRONOUNS CUMANIAN men; man mening manga; man ga meni; menj mendan biz bizing bizga bizni bizdan sen ; san sening sanga (saha; saa) seni sendan siz sizing sizga sizni; siznj sizdan
SART man mening manga meni mendin biz bising bizga bizni bizdin san sening sanga seni sendin siz sizing sizga sizni sizdin
OSMANLI ben benim bana (banga) beni benden biz bizim bize bizi bizden sen senin sana (sanga) seni senden siz sizin size siz i sizden
ENGLISH
I of me to me me (acc.) from me we of us to us us (acc.) from us thou of thee to thee thee (acc.) from thee you of you to you you (acc.) from you
NOUN CUMANIAN SU suning suga suni sudan sular sularning sularga su lami sulardan
SART su suning suga suni sudin sular sularning sularga sularni sulardin
OSMANLI su sunyn suja suju sudan sular sularnyn sulara sulary sulardan
ENGLISH water of water to water (acc.) from water waters of waters to waters (acc.) from waters
TATAR M A T E R I A L IN OLD
RUSSIAN
91
VERB PRESENT TENSE CUM AN IAN
SART
OSMANLI
ENGLISH
anglarmen anglarsen anglar anglarbiz anglarsiz; -sis anglarlar
anglamen anglasen angladur anglamiz anglasiz angladurlar
anglarym anglarsen anglar anglaryz anglarsynyz anglarlar
I understand thou understandest he understands we understand you understand they understand
PRESENT TENSE NEGATIVE
anglamaimän (-men) anglarmasen anglamaisen anglarman
anglamas anglamasbiz anglamassiz anglamaslar
anglamaidur anglamaimiz anglamaibiz anglamaidurlar
anglamam
I do not understand
anglamazsen
thou dost not understand he does not understand we do not understand you do not understand they do not understand
anglamaz anglamajyz anglamazsynyz anglamazlar FUTURE
anglagaymen anglagaysen anglagay anglagaybiz anglagaysiz anglagaylar
anglarmen anglarsen anglar anglarmiz anglarsiz anglarlar
anglajadzaghym anglajadzaqsyn anglajadzaq anglajadzaghyz anglajadzaqsynyz anglajadzaqlar
I shall understand thou wilt understand he will understand we shall understand you will understand they will understand
As will be observed, the Sart Tatar of Eastern Russia is even more similar to Cumanian than is Osmanli, as the m-form of the pronoun of the first person man-men constantly appears instead of the Osmanli ben. The inserted n before the nominal-pronominal genitive ending -ing (-yn), which remains in Osmanli only in words ending in a vowel, is still common in Sart, as it was in Cumanian.
92
TATAR MATERIAL IN OLD
RUSSIAN
In 1338 A. D., the Franciscan Friar Pascal of Vittoria wrote that he learned the lingua Chamanica and the Uigur letters, "which are used commonly throughout these kingdoms"; that is, throughout the empires of the Tatars, Persians, Chaldaeans, Medes and Cathay. 15 In other words, Pascal states that Cumanian was the idiom in common use as a vernacular throughout Central Asia as far as China and that it was written with Uigur characters. Cumanian was evidently a term applicable to Tatar in general, including Uigur. 16 There can be no doubt that the material of the Codex Cumanicus is of great value, therefore, in fixing the philological status of all pre-mediarval and medieval Tatar and especially of the Polovtsian idiom, with which it was practically identical. I am particularly indebted to Mr. Feliciu Vexler, Assistant in Slavonic in my department in Columbia University, for his able assistance in collecting most of the following Tatar material, bearing directly on the language of the Epic of Igor. TATAR MATERIAL IN IGOR17 Bl'van (Igor 112) = modern R. bolvan, "block, blockhead, statue, idol" (Berneker, p. 41), C. balaban, "falcon," possibly owing to the statuelike attitude of the bird when perched. In Magyar, bälväny = "idol of any sort"; Rumanian bolovan, "cobblestone," formerly "idol" (Slavonic loan word). There may be two words here, the first referring to a bird of some sort; cf. Turkish bülbül, "nightingale" (in CC. rosignolus)\ and the second actually meaning "block" or "idol." The word is clearly of Tatar origin. Bojan (Igor, passim). For full discussion, cf. "Prince, Troyan and Boyan," in Proc. of the Amer. Philos. Soc., LVI, 152-60 and see below, s. v. kur. Vyazemski (Magnus, pp. xlvii-xlviii) has already connected this word with Slavonic bajati, bojati, "speak, relate." The meaning of bojan may therefore, be "singer"; cf. R. Gypsy bagan,18 "to sing," and note Slavonic bajan, "enchanter," 15
19 Cited Bang, Beiträge, p. 33. Ibid., p. 33. " Arranged in the order of the Russian alphabet. " Cf. P. Istomin (Patkanoff), The Gypsy Language (in Russian), Moscow, 1900.
TATAR
M A T E R I A L IN OLD
RUSSIAN
93
in Dan. 5, 11 (OR. version). It is possible, however, that the word may be of T a t a r origin (cf. Magnus, p. xlvii). Note that Turkish boj = "person"; Mongol boj = "clever archer" or "person"; Altai pajana = " G o d " ; Cuvas pojan = "rich" and bajan is a tribal name of the Altai. See below, s. v. bojarin. The word bajan appears also as a proper name, Vajanos (but note the Greek v), son of Kubra. Dubious words of this type are often the result of a compound derivation, possibly originally Tatar with a superimposition of a later Slavonic folks-etymology, based on resemblance of sound (see s. v. buj-tur, jar-tur, below). Bojarin (Igor, passim); the common OS. word for "magnate" (Berneker, p. 72), usually employed for Slavonic boj, "fight," following the idea that the boyars were essentially warriors. I t may however be connected as a loan word with the above mentioned Turkish baj-, boj-, "rich," since the probably cognate R. barin, "gentleman," does not seem to be from a Slavonic stem boj-, "fight." The words barin, bojarin, therefore, are possibly Tatar. In OS and Bulgarian, boljarin, the I is probably due to the influence of the Slavonic bolj-, "great." See the Tatar material cited above, s. v. Bojan. Buj-tur (Igor, 80) varies with buj (Berneker, p. 98) and is an epithet of Prince Vsevolod. Here again is a word of possible double etymology. The Slavonic elements appear to be buj, "bull," and tur, also "bull," meaning "aurochs" in modern R. A similar popular combination is buj-vol, "buffalo," from buj, "bull" and vol, "ox." The buj-form is apparently cognate with Greek, vu, "to sprout, be born"; cf. Rumanian buiac, "lustful." The word buj alone appears in Igor, 465; Buj Rjuriie, "O hero (bull) Rurik"; the genitive is bu-j-ego. This ¿»«/-element can have no connection with C. boga, buga, Turkish bugha, Cagatai buka, and so forth. All through the Tatar idioms we find variants of the word bahadur, "noble, mighty," now a common word in Hindustani dialects borrowed through the Mogul (Mongol); cf. C. bahadur,
94
TATAR M A T E R I A L IN OLD
RUSSIAN
Mongol batur, Manchu baturu, Nogait matur, beautiful, Kazanj mater, and so forth. Note CC., p. 145: bahadur sen degelim, "te poteniem esse dicamus"; CC., p. 116: bagat = "probus." In spite of Magnus, Igor, p. 51, I believe that buj-tur is a Slavonic popular etymology from Tatar bahadur, or its cognate; cf. s. v. jar-tur, below. Bus: busovi vrani "the crows of Bus" (Igor, 375), altered by Magnus from busuvi, but better = "steel gray crows," a variety common in Russia to-day. Magnus, Igor, p. 50, associates it with Booz = Bluz (Balus), a leader of the Pólovsty in 1054, during the first invasion; cf. pojút vrémja búsovo, "they sing the times of Bus" (in this passage, plainly a proper name). The word búsovi (Igor, 375) is more likely connected with bosy (Igor, 685): bósym vólkom, "like a gray wolf," not "barefooted" and hence "swift-footed" (Magnus). For the idea of color, see C. buz = "caeruleus" (CC., p. 145); note also boxag (= bozag), "fuscus," and cf. Turkish boz, "steel-gray," and Osmanli buz, "ice." These Slavonic expressions are all certainly loan words from Tatar buz, "blue; gray." Bjes: djéli bjésovi (Igor, 186); translated by Magnus "children of Baal," i. e., "devilish children" (cf. Berneker, p. 56). Magnus thinks bjes is a variant of bus-, but this is probably incorrect, although it suggests the Cumanian bus, bos, seen in busov = "ruina" (CC., p. 195). The phrase bjésovi djéti must mean "children of the devil," from the Slavonic stem bjes (bes), "rage." Zencjug, "a collection of pearls" (Igor, 371); an older form than the present iemcug. Professor Friedrich Hirth states that this is an international word, known also in China; cf. Lithuanian loan word lemczugas. This same stem is seen in Magyar gyongy and in Osmanli inqu, pronounced indii. Note that the change of y or i to the palatalized dé is not unusual in Turkish; cf. C. ingcu (CC., p. 109), Orkhonski Tatar jdnqu, and so forth. This word does not appear in the non-Russian Slavonic languages. Kaninu (Igor, 225): na Kaninu zelenu papolomu polstla, "and bedded in him in the Kanina with a garment"; thus Magnus. Note
TATAR M A T E R I A L IN OLD
RUSSIAN
95
that papoloma = Greek iriirXtojxa. Magnus, p. 74, rejects a Tatar derivation, but C. kan and Turkish kan = "blood." This word kanina is probably a hybrid adjective meaning "bloody" and the phrase should be translated: "and bedded him on a blood-stained green garment"; viz., in the earth. I question as to whether Kanina in Igor is a place-name = Kajala; cf. 229: 5 toj-Ze kajaly ought probably to be read: s toj-Ze kaniny, "from that place of blood." The hero's father-in-law ordered his body to be carried to Kiev. Kogan (Igor, 746): na kogana "against the Khan" = Tatar kaghan (Orkhonski inscriptions; cf. Berneker, p. 468). This title was given to Vladimir in Chron. 1171: kagan and kan in 1191. The gutturalized khan is a later form; Greek xay°-v°*, old Mongol and Avar khaganus {-us = Latin ending), Osmanli khan and C. han = "God." In Cumanian the h represented a guttural. The Tunguz of Nercinsk say kan with hard k. KoScej (Igor, 360): v. sjedlo koUievo, "in a captive's saddle" (not "slave's," with Magnus). Cf. Berneker, p. 585. The word is clearly a Tatar element from kos, "military camp," from which comes R. ko$, "camp of the Zaporozhian 19 Cossacks"; hence, the word used so often in Gogol's "Taras Bulba," koshevoj = "chief of the Cossack camp." The word kosci must originally have meant "prisoner, servant, groom." There can be no connection here with C. cmc and cucermen, "coerce," as some have suggested. In the R. ballads koScej meant "magician, giant." I t is possible that the modern R. koscej, "skinflint, miser," may be the same word misapplied under the popular etymological influence of kostj, "bone." The stem koS may be the same as that seen in Osmanli qawas (?). Komonj, "horse" (Igor, passim), is probably not a Tatar word. It has been connected with a supposed kobmonj, the same stem as that seen in R. kobyla and English-Celtic "cob" = thickset horse {cob in Celtic = "tuft, abundance"), but Berneker, p. 555, rightly 19 The Zaporozhian Cossacks were the "Backfallsmen" of the Dnieper, who played so important a part in Polish medieval history (cf. Gogol's Taras Bulba, and so forth).
%
TATAR M A T E R I A L IN OLD
RUSSIAN
rejects this as a doubtful derivation. The usual R. word for "horse" is loladj, q. v., below. Kur (Igor, 595): doriskase do kur Tjmutarakanja. There is no reason to alter to cur with Magnus = "he raced to the precincts of Tjmutarakanj." Magnus' emendation would refer to Cur, a deity (?) of boundaries. The word kur is Tatar qur, "enclosure," with which kurgan (see the following word) is probably connected. Kurgan "tumulus, grave-mound," a common modern R. word (Berneker, p. 648) appears also in Rumanian gorgan and is clearly Tatar. Note C. gurgan, "burgh" and gurgatmen, "strengthen," and cf. Osmanli kurkhane. See the preceding word in this list. Loladj, "horse" (not in Igor, which always uses jomdnj, q. v.). The word loladj (Berneker, p. 734) appears in Nestor's Chronicle, 1103 and 1111, used by Vladimir Monomakh in the council regarding the Polovtsian expedition. The term was unknown to the Polovtsy and was of southern Russian origin, passing into Russian, perhaps, by way of the Viatici tribe (cf. Sakhmatov, Introduction to the History of the Russian Language, I. 81). The word appears in OR as tola; gen. losate (/-stem), and has had the form loladj since the thirteenth century; cf. lolak, "mule," Polish loszak, "horse," and so forth. It is unquestionably a Tatar loan word; cf. Turkish alala, "gelding," and Magyar lo, "horse." There were wild horses on the Asiatic steppes, as Vladimir Monomakh speaks of catching and taming ten or twenty of them at Cernigov. Nogata (Igor, 460): to byla by caga po nogatje a kolcej po rezanje: "then a female slave would be worth twelve pence and a groom for five pence." This is a loan word through the Tatar from the Arabic naqd, "small coin." The intermediate form seems to have been nagd. For the values in furs, one grivjenj = twenty nogaty, or fifty rezany, see Magnus, p. 113. See below s. v. caga. Ovlur (Igor, 675) is a proper name; probably the same as Lavor in Nestor's Chron. 1185. This appears to contain the same elements
TATAR M A T E R I A L IN OLD
RUSSIAN
97
as are seen in the Turkish oghlan, "servant, lad"; we have the record in Nestor of the Tatar servants of David Igorevic, named Oulan, Kolia, and so on. The form Lavor is certainly not as correct as Ovlur. The final r in both forms is difficult to explain, unless it is a variant of the -n in oghlan, oulan. Oljber (Igor, 101) is clearly not Tatar olybyr, "weak, ill" (rejected also by Magnus, p. 102). Magnus is probably right in attributing this name to the series of geographical terms referring to the Tatar territory, now in Czecho-Slovakia. Note that there is a Polish village Olbierzowice, not far from Warsaw (Magnus, loc. cit.). Vexler derives this from Polish olbrzym, "giant," applied to the Avars. Cf. s. v. Seljbir. Or'lama (Igor, 142; only once): or'tmami i japoniicatni koiukhi, "with the mantles, cloaks and coats" (they bridged the mire, and so forth). This is plainly the same as C. ortma = "mantica"; cf. art, "back, top" (CC. 146), artarmen, " I excel" (CC. 54). In Osmanli, ortmek = "to cover," and we find in Persian the noun ortme, "covering" from a plainly Turkish formation which, however, does not occur in modern Osmanli. This is undoubtedly our or'tma = Osmanli iirtu, "covering." Saltany (Igor, 489): "thou shootest from the golden throne of thy father the Saltany who are beyond Russia" ( = za zemljami). Every authority but Magnus regards this as the Arabo-Tatar saltan, sultan, a reference to the chiefs of the Tatars. Magnus, however, considers that it alludes to the men of Salatyn on the lower Tatra mountains in Hungary, whence came the barbarian auxiliaries of Igor, such as the Topchaks. It must refer to an attack on the Tatar foe, but the term saltan (sultan) is not commonly used to denote the Tatar khans. Tl'kovin (Igor, 369): poganykh tVkovin, "of the heathen tt'koviny" perhaps the TaX^arfot of Ptolemy. The term is very difficult. It is usually rendered "nomads," from R. tolcdk, from tolkatj, "roam," as the form occurs in Nestor, 907, alluding to the Varjags, Slovenes, and Tivercy. A. Weseloffsky (ZDMG, 1877, p. 301)
98
TATAR M A T E R I A L IN OLD
RUSSIAN
refers the term to the Torki, the remnants of the Pecenegs. This is not possible, since the Varjags (Norsemen) and Slovenes (southern Slavs) were certainly not Torki. The derivation of the word ti'koviny is uncertain. The proper pronunciation is tlkoviny or tolkoviny, as the hard sign in Igor ti'koviny is a mere stop. Sakhmatov thinks it means "bilingual," comparing it with tolmac, "interpreter," from tolkovati (op. cit., p. 98). Tjmutarakan (Igor, 384) was the last outpost of the RussoHellenic influence and had heathen temples even in Strabo's day. It was on the Taman peninsula, bordering on the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. Constantine Porphyrogenitus calls it Ta^arapxa. Toplak (Igor, 432) alludes to the barbarian allies. Magnus states "this word has an unmistakable Turanian form" and refers to C. toprak, "corn" (CC. 208). In Osmanli topraq = "soil, territory," and also "clay." It may refer to the nature of the soil of a certain territory. Magnus identifies it geographically with Topczewo, a village in the province of Grodno, twenty versts from Bielsk, or with Topczykaly, seven miles from Grodno. There can be little doubt that these people were Tatars. Seljbiry (Igor, 432) may be cognate with Kalmuck lilbyr, "long whip," but the term seems to accord with the rest of the geographical series; cf. 5. v. Oljber, and Magnus, p. 101. It is probably another reference to the barbarian allies of the Russians from the Tatra. Note that Polish szalbierz means "rogue." SereHry (Igor, 462; only once): ty by moZeli po sukku (iivymi) s lereliry streljati -udalymP0 syny Gljebovi
Thou canst on dry land shoot with bold seresiry the sons of Gljeb.
The sons of Gljeb were princes of Rjazanj. The passage is very obscure and it is apparent that the copyist himself did not understand it. Cf. Magnus, pp. 106 ff., for seven views. I believe that 20 It is not necessary with Magnus to separate -mi from udaly and to regard mi as the first personal possessive "my brave sons of Gljeb"; iidalymi is instrumental plural agreeing with Jereliry.
TATAR M A T E R I A L IN OLD
RUSSIAN
99
lereliry must have been an implement. The Persian fire-hurling machines were known as tir-iar, an iron pipe filled with explosive powder and employed very early in the East. Magnus, p. 107, suggests that lerelir may be cognate with Magyar seres, "worry, trouble," but this seems improbable. Vexler suggests that the initial I may be a scribal error for t, as the letters are not dissimilar in Cyrillic, but this is not necessary, as a / palatalized before the i-vowel might become 5. The word lereliry suggests a Pólovtsian word tiritar and seems in this passage of Igor to be a synonym of the plamenny rog, "flaming horn," of Igor, 312; note also smaga, "fierce heat" (Igor, 311), a Little-Russian word. "Live lereliry" must mean "loaded implements." Kharaluiny (Igor, 194): méíi kharalúínymi, "with steel swords" (Berneker, pp. 385, 100) is undoubtedly connected with C. karalic, "blackness," used for alramenium, "ink," in CC, p. 94, but referring in Igor to the dark color of tempered steel. It is interesting to note that in modern Osmanli, qarlilyq is used for the steel of a flintlock gun, but this really means "the opposite thing," i. e., the thing opposite (qarli) the flint." On the other hand, qarlilyq may be a popular etymology containing an original qara-stem = "black steel (?)." Perhaps qarlilyq stands for qar-ielik, "black steel," as lelik = "steel" in Osmanli. In the Russian ballads, bulalny means the same as kharaluiny = Turkish bulat, which is from Persian pulad; thus, in Zadonséina; kopija kharalúínymi, meci bulatnyja, lopory legkie, "steel spears, steel swords (and) light battle-axes." Note that k and q often become kh, especially in Azerbaijan and Mariópol Tatar (cf. Blau, "Ueber Volksthum u. Sprache d. Kumanen," ZDMG. 29, 1876 [556-567], pp. 569 f. Khinovy (Igor, 403). This original form Magnus has needlessly altered to khinju; khinovy is probably an adjective and means simply "Hunnish" (thus Sobolevsky, A. S. P., XXX, 474). It is derived by Magnus from Tatar khan and taken to mean "belonging to the Tatars" (khans), a theory based on the change of 0 to i in Little Russian, seen, for example, in Little Russian pid for R. pod,
100
T A T A R M A T E R I A L IN OLD
RUSSIAN
"under"; wikno for okno, "window," and so forth. But this change of o to i is a very late phenomenon in the Ukraine. It is not likely that this word has any connection with C. kinov, "crooked" (CC., p. 138), kingir, "curved" (CC., p. 140). Khorjugov (Igor, 146); cf. Berneker, p. 398. This word has been derived from Mongol orongo, "standard," and also from Gothic hrugga, "shaft," pronounced hrunga, which is not even identical in meaning. The word occurs in Old Bulgarian khorangv, "pennant," and in modern khorugv, "church banner," Polish choragiew, and so forth. It is more probable that this is a Tatar loan word and not Gothic hrugga, which is the same word as English "rung" of a ladder. The Mongol orongo may be a modification of an original khorongo. Japoncica (Igor, 142), "Capuchin cloak" (Berneker, p. 445). Magnus has wrongly japoncica (p. 115). This is identical with OR. epanca and Turkish iapanca, or iaponca; in Polish oponcza means "rain-coat." Note Cagatai japonii, "cloak." See s. v. or'tma, below. Jaruga (Igor, 92), "rill" (Berneker, p. 445) is clearly the same as in Cagatai jarugh, "left, split." The jar-stem appears in OR. jar, "cliff, ravine"; Old Bulgarian jar, "steep shore," Rumanian eruga. In modern R., we have jarug (Tula dialect), and eruk; jaruSka Little Russian. Jar-tur (Igor, 190; Magnus, p. 117; Berneker, p. 447). This is an epithet applied to heroes; conventionally = "fierce bull." See bujtur, above. There is a modern word jary, "fierce, grim," which probably does not belong in this connection. As buj-tur seems to be a popular etymology of Slavonic elements suggested by a primitive Tatar form, it is highly likely that the same is true of Jar-tur, with which the Indo-Germanic elements jar, "fierce," and tur, "bull," have been associated. Note that R. jary appears in a number of Slavonic proper names, as Jaroslav; Jaromir, and so forth. This Indo-Germanic jar is usually connected with Greek fipos, "fiery"; possibly it has the same stem as the Latin ira, "wrath" (?).
TATAR M A T E R I A L IN OLD
RUSSIAN
101
According to Berneker, p. 448, this jar has no connection with the Tatar iar, "light, bright," which occurs CC., p. 254. The question is confusing, as jary, "bright," is also a Slavonic stem, R., and so on. It is conceivable that jar-tur might readily be a variant of T a t a r iardur, "he is (dur) splendid," a form which subsequently might have been confounded with Slavonic jary (?). As to the possible connection between Slavonic jary and T a t a r iar (iariklich = "lumen" CC., p. 154, jaricte, "illuminavit," CC., p. 159; iarkin, "splendor," CC., p. 193), this opens up the whole question as to the primitive common origin of the Indo-Germanic and Ugro-Turkic idioms, which cannot be discussed here. Caga (Igor, 460), "female slave" (Nestor, Chron. 1018) is undoubtedly Tatar and should not be rendered " p o t e n t a t e " (Magnus, p. 113). See above s. v. nogate.
r
SLAV A N D
CELT1
' HAS been long recognized that language is not a final test of race; that is, of race in the anthropological sense. It must be remembered, however, that in current usage the word "race" is not employed to indicate the primitive long-heads, short-heads and round-heads of strict anthropology, about which many modern educated people know and care next to nothing, but rather to denote what should be properly defined as "tribal groups," which subsequently developed into "nationalities," and then into political "nations." Such primitive tribal "races" were originally nothing more than groups of families fortuitously speaking the same language or kindred dialects, who were forced together for purposes of mutual protection, or for the purpose of conquest over weaker and richer peoples. Such a tribal nucleus was the beginning of every modern nation-group. It is, therefore, quite obvious that a "pure" race, that is, a race originating from and maintaining a single strain cannot be in existence at the present time. In order to determine national trend development, the student of group characteristics must, therefore, refer to environment and the common interests bred by common speech, rather than to skullshape or other bodily peculiarities which often vary in individuals of one and the same family. Mutual comprehensibility and the possession of a common hereditary trend are the two most important features of such influential environment. The peoples now termed "Slavs" and "Celts" must consequently be classified each within their own group from the point of view of their respective speech-groups ( = influence-groups), and may be studied still more closely by a 1
Reprinted from Proceedings American philosophical Society, LVIII (1920), 184-193.
SLAV AND
CELT
103
comparison of the traditions which have given rise to their mental and spiritual characteristics. I t is the thesis of this paper to set forth how Slavs and Celts, although speaking widely varying branches of the Indo-European linguistic family, are none the less strikingly similar to each other in habits of mind and expression. The Slav, in spite of his prominence in the great war, is even yet but little understood by the West. In fact, the majority of Americans do not even know who these people are, nor whence they come. The Slavonic family is essentially a linguistic division. Indeed, the very word "Slav" probably means "he who can speak intelligibly," from the same root as slovo, "word," in distinction from non-Slavs, who are known as njemcy, "dumb ones," i. e., unintelligible speakers, a term originally applied by Slavs to all foreigners, but now exclusively to the Germans. The derivation of "Slav" from slava, "glory," is unimportant, as slava itself is probably but a variant of the slov-slav-root meaning "speak, proclaim." The Slavonic tribes are much more numerous today than their congeners, the modern Celts. There are six linguistic divisions of Slavonic speaking nationalities, viz., Russians, who are subdivided into Great Russians, White Russians and Ukrainians (Little Russians); Poles (with Kashubians); Slovaks, who extend across the entire northern border of what was Hungary, from the Ukrainian language-line on the east to the Bohemian border on the west; Bohemians (Czechs) embracing also the Moravian population to the south of them, both tribes speaking a distinctly western Slavonic idiom; Serbs and Croats on the south, who differ only in that they write their common speech, the Serbs in the Cyrillic (Russian) and the Croats in the Latin alphabet; and finally the Bulgarians, who speak a simplified form of Slavonic and whose dialects extend, not only through political Bulgaria, but also through a large part of Macedonia. To the Serbo-Croats must be added the Montenegrins and also the Slovenes, inhabiting the district just behind Trieste and strangely
104
SLAV AND
CELT
enough the little linguistic island of Wends in Saxony and Prussia, who, although separated by centuries of isolation from their southern Slavonic cousins, still use a distinctly Serbo-Slavonic form of speech (Sorbian). These then are the Slavs, and it will at once be observed that the distinction between them and also their common bond is one of language and not of race. It may be predicated that language really carries with it a well-marked aura of influence which permeates a people to the very marrow. While language is in one sense merely a vehicle of expression, it also aids thought and directs trends of mind. It would be difficult otherwise to explain the striking similarity of these various Slavonic nationalities to one another, because they come racially from many stocks. For example, the Bulgarians are really Huns, whose parent tribe, in the latter days of the Byzantine empire, swept across southern Russia like a storm and either drove out or dominated the Serbo-Slavs of the Balkan peninsula. The invaders soon lost their original speech and adopted a modified and corrupted form of the local Slavonic idiom, which has since developed into the modern Bulgarian language. The Bulgarian is the enfant terrible among these nations, selfishly bound up in his own tribe and hating bitterly his neighbors, the Serbs and Croats. The Bulgarian is to this day in his trends and habit of thought, in short in all but his speech, more of a Hun than a Slav. The Serbs and Croats are also of fairly mixed race, although they are chiefly descended from original Slavonic speaking tribes which came from the north into the Balkans in the sixth Christian century. This clan has always been a strong warrior nation distinguished by its love of reasonable freedom. The Bohemians and Moravians have a very strong Germanic admixture of blood, for which reason they are politically the most stable-minded of the entire family. The Hungarian Slovaks cannot boast of a pure Slavonic speaking origin, as they became mixed in early times with Tatar 2 (Turkic) tribes and more ' Cf. J. D. Prince, "Tartar Material in Old Russian," Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., 1919, pp. 74-88.
SLAV AND
CELT
105
recently with their Finno-Ugric M a g y a r neighbors and former overlords, a double admixture which has given to the Slovak the low forehead and broad features suggestive of non-Indo-European origin. These Slovaks are essentially a laboring class, highly industrious, but rather addicted to drink. The Poles assert that they are the only pure Slavonic stock, but even among them appears the blond Scandinavian and North German type left by the ravages of the Thirty Years' War. T h e Poles possess the most extremely individualized character of all the Slavs. In other words, among them tribal feeling has developed into a real national patriotism, which was at first not evident in their history. Welded together into a great European power by the early Jagiello princess of Lithuanian origin, the Poles, as soon as the Jagiello line died out, began unwittingly to plot their own ruin by insisting in their parliament on the principle of the unanimous vote for all measures (liberum veto), so that a single member might veto a bill, or even demand an immediate adjournment, which the rest of the Diet was powerless to prevent. During the past century, however, during which this gallant and individualistic nation passed through an ordeal of fire at the hands of Germans, Russians and Austrians, a much deeper spirit of inherent solidarity has shown itself among them, and this, it is to be hoped, may weld Poland once more by internal force into as strong a European influence as it became under the external pressure of the Lithuanian Jagiellos. Strange to say, until recent times, the Poles, unlike their congeners, have never felt the pressing need of a spiritually united Slavia. Naturally hating the Russians, despising the more prosaic Czechs and Slovaks, and ignoring the Serbs and Croatians, the Pole has remained, and is unfortunately inclined to remain, splendidly aloof from his Slavonic brethren. In spite of this willful isolation, Polish characteristics do not differ fundamentally from those of the other Slavs. Finally, in this connection the Serbs and Croatians constitute a strong race, of mixed stock, it is true, but of genuine Slavonic spirit. Touched by Turkish on the east and south and by
106
SLAV AND
CELT
Magyar on the north and west, this people through centuries of darkness and oppression by Turks, Magyars, and Austrian Germans have retained the spirit seen in all Slavia. The only Celtic tongued peoples extant today are the Gaelic speaking Irish, Manks, and Highland Scotch and their distant linguistic cousins of Armorican speech, the Welsh and the Bretons of France. The allied Armorican Cornish disappeared as a living language about 1789.3 These tribes are mutually incomprehensible when using Celtic, for the Gaelic dialects of Ireland and Scotland and the scanty remnant of Gaelic in Man, 4 although mutually similar to the philologist, are, when spoken, far apart from one another phonetically; while the Armorican idioms, Welsh and Breton, are not only almost incomprehensible to each other, but are divided by a great phonetic and morphological gulf from the Gaelic branch. So here we have people to whom the rule of similarity of language just expounded for the Slav would seem not to apply, and yet these tribes are all strikingly alike in thought and trend of mind, and it is especially noticeable that among the Celts who have lost their original tongues, such as the central French and mid-European Germans, this spirit has practically disappeared. The rule for Slavs and Celts is really the same, although obscured, for in ancient days the Gaelic Celts of Ireland, Scotland, and Man were mutually intelligible, as their educated classes still are, and even the Armorican, whose tongue was once the idiom of all southern Britain, drew from the same linguistic fountain-head as did the Gaels. The fact that the influence still lasts is due to the extreme traditionalism of the Celt, who has clung to his ancient tendencies handed down to him in early oral literatures, varying today in language, but similar in thought and trend. What then is the common Slavo-Celtic spirit which seems to 3
H. Jenner, Handbook of the Cornish Language, London, 1904, p. 21. There is hardly a score of people today in Man who can converse in Manx. When the writer was in Man in 1897, a Mr. Cashell of Port Erin was almost the only person who could talk Manx fluently. He told me that at that time there were about twentyfive people who had a thorough knowledge of the language. 4
SLAV AND
CELT
107
connect these two geographically remote Indo-European branches? What force underlies the folk-literature of Slav and Celt alike, inspiring both Slavonic and Celtic music and poetry with a common fire, showing similar trends in the thought of both peoples, and molding the individual disposition along closely similar lines? The underlying similarity seems to be twofold; viz., (a) temperamedial discontent, and (b) morbid joy in sorrow. (a) The most important point in common is perhaps the quality of longing, a passionate desire for the unattainable, which, when reached, shall give perfect joy, in other words, a spirit of restless quest. Thus, the Slavonic religious ideals, demanding intensive, often absurd personal sacrifices, long fasts, or arduous pilgrimages made under circumstances of enforced privation, similar to the self-inflicted tortures of the Hindu devotees, may be compared with the Celtic fasts and semi-monastic ideals. Mysticism in general is a common bond between the Slav and Celt. Slav and Celt alike seem careless of their success or even survival, so strong is the impelling discontent with the present world. Renan wrote of the unending quest of the Celt the following words which apply equally well to the Slav: "This race desires the infinite, it thirsts for it, and pursues it at all costs, beyond the tomb—beyond Hell itself." 5 The Celtic legend of the quest of the Holy Grail, the mysterious chalice of the Last Supper which was regarded as a physical link between Man and God should be mentioned here. I t is highly significant that the Celtic Grail-cup could be found only by a physically sex-pure man, an idea which gave the world the later character of Sir Galahad, unknown in the earlier Grail accounts, a man who "never felt the kiss of love, nor maiden's hand in his." 6 This conception of the necessity of absolute sexpurity exists so strongly among the Slavs that an entire sect, the Russian Skopcy, have devoted themselves to this ideal by an ' Cf. The Celt and the World, by Shane Leslie, New York, 1917. The entire work deals with the character of the Celt. 6 Cf. King Arthur in History and Legend, by W. Lewis Jones, Cambridge University Press, 1911, p. 107.
SLAV AND
108
CELT
ordinance requiring voluntary sterilization, which is still
rigidly
observed. The Celts, apparently, have not been guilty of such a caricature, although some of their ancient monks may have resorted to this method of ensuring continence. The Slavs seem to have nothing so definite in their lore as the quest of the Grail, which the Celts not only sought, but actually found. (b) Accomplishment is not a necessary adjunct to
Slavonic
"success" and this principle constitutes the second point of resemblance between the Slavonic and Celtic characteristics: a morbid delight in sorrow and especially in failure. The first thing which strikes the student of modern Russian literature is that scarcely a tale emphasizes the qualities which make for success in the formation of human character. Hardly anywhere in these productions do we find the hero battling his way through difficulties to an eventual success due to his own efforts. Stephen Graham in his recent work on this point ( T h e Way of Martha
and the Way of Mary,
London, 1915) is certainly
correct in emphasizing the prevalence of this Russian "Gospel of Incompetence." It would seem as if public sympathy has been at all times, but more especially of recent years, with the unsuccessful, rather than with the successful, hero. Even in the old Russian literature, as exemplified in the " T a l e of the Armament of Igor" (1185 A. D.), we find a glorification of the defeat of this prince by the Tatar hordes of the Polovtsy. That there was, however, a healthier tone in Old Russian is evident from such a work as ZadonUani,
where the great victory of Dimitri Donskoi over the
Tatar chieftain Mamai is well sung. Of late years, particularly in the Russian literature of the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this same tendency is chiefly conspicuous by its absence. This Russian morbid pleasure in failure is seen also among the other Slavs, although to a less marked extent, as exemplified in such Polish songs as Nasze skiby nasze lany or the beautiful Czech dirge Havlicek, sadder style.
and also in many Serbo-Croatian poems of the
SLAV AND
CELT
109
The Celts, especially the Irish and Scotch, are remarkable for their delight in a "lost cause" which is expressed in such wellknown songs as "Patrick Sarsfield" or "The Wearing of the Green" and the many Jacobite ditties of Scotland. It should be noted, however, that many songs of this style breathe a spirit of defiance or at least of obstinacy which always implies remote hope. No such implication of hope is usual in the corresponding Slavonic poetry. The Celtic morbid pleasure in death and its appurtenances such as funerals and wakes is well recognized. Wakes, known as pominki in Russian, are observed all over Slavia in much the same manner as among the Celts. From the purely literary point of view, it is a matter of regret that modern Welsh poetical productions have nearly all been case-hardened by the stereotyped soul-deadening form of the twenty-four meters, a system which inclines to sacrifice everything to alliteration and rhyme. The modern Welsh people have been very largely denaturalized as Celts, so far as their power of expression is concerned, by the rigid forms of Protestantism prevalent in Wales, which have tinged the whole of recent Welsh literature with a dull conventionalism, thus driving out almost entirely the spirit of ancient Welsh poetry. In spite of this fact, the Welsh and Bretons still love grief as much as any Irishman, but differ widely from the Irish Celt in lacking humor, a lack which is shared by the gloomy temper of the Scotch Gaels. The Slav, on the other hand, does not lack humor entirely— witness such modern wits as the exquisite Russian Czechov and the Polish authoress Eugenja Zmijevska, but this quality is commonly regarded as an evidence of lightmindedness and absence of mental poise. The vast mass of Slavs are temperamental extremists, either bathed in a delicious gloom, or else given over for brief periods to slapstick wit and mad dances which, very temporarily, draw the sad Slav out of his habitual introspection. A perfect parallel to these ebullitions may be seen in the wild riot of Irish, Scotch, and Breton jigs and reels, a form of music not much countenanced at present by the artificially sobered Welsh.
110
SLAV A N D
CELT
Old Slavonic literature7 is full of tales of mythical heroes who performed deeds of daring and feats of supernatural strength, strongly reminiscent of the Irish Finn McCoul. Such hero-tales are of course common to all the Indo-European peoples and are not a point of particular resemblance between Slavs and Celts. It is interesting that both the easternmost and westernmost divisions of the peoples who speak Indo-European still retain the ancient strain of unworldliness and mysticism which so noticeably characterizes the religious devotees of the nations who still use the oriental forms of Indo-European. The stern practicality of the Teuton, which has spread abroad through all the Germanic speaking lands and appears in a special form among the Latin speaking Franks, is bounded east and west by a cloud of "unreal" thinkers who turn with delight to pessimism and reject success as a mere material benefit. Upon neither the Slav nor the Celt has the sun of success ever risen, because both Slav and Celt contemn success. There was a brief period, while Russia was an empire, outwardly mighty under largely Germanic direction but rotten at the core with Slavonic apathy, when it appeared as if there might have been an intellectual union between Russia and the lesser Slavonic peoples. This was in fact fostered by the Pan-Slavonic movement, which sought to teach the non-Russian Slavs to look to Petrograd and Moscow for their national stimuli. What might have come of such a movement no one can judge today, for with disaster the Russian character crumbled and the great mass of unthinking sheeplike peasantry fell into the hands of those who profess equality but practise cooperative slavery, while the lesser Slavonic peoples have been left to their own devices under the Allied plan of selfdetermination. It would be rash to prophesy the future of these newly formed states of Poland, Czecho slovakia, and SerboCroatia. Poland alone has a great tradition upon which to build and her people may have developed, as indicated above, a spirit of sufficient solidarity to insure their national life. 7
Cf. I. Porfirieff, History of Russian Literature (in Russian), Part I, pp. 49 ff.
SLAV A N D
CELT
111
Judging the future by the past, however, it would seem as if the Slavs would again8 be compelled eventually to seek the guiding hand of the stranger, for Slavs and Celts have ever been politically impossible when left to themselves. The temperamental discontent just discussed, common to both peoples, has made them supremely jealous and consequently litigious and fractious in all matters of government. Their tendency is to refuse obedience to leaders of their own nationality and to break up into small partisan groups. Among Russians especially debate is difficult. The Irish "Kilkenny Cats" are as Slavonic as they are Celtic! The fact is that Slavs and Celts are both oriental. When Sergius N. Syromiatnikoff hinted that Russia had made her great error in turning westward instead of eastward for her ultimate culture, he was fundamentally right.9 The same idea was frequently expressed by Dostoievsky, particularly in his Journal of a Writer, the last number of which, January, 1881, contains a most elaborate plea for the Asiatic expansion of Russia in preference to a distinctly western trend. Slavs and Celts are oriental character-types in Europe, requiring the strong hand of western administration to guide them to efficiency. Their thought-basis is from the East and they have never been thoroughly westernized. Full of individual kindliness and charm, lacking the qualities which make for that worldly success which both peoples in general despise, these eastern and western European tribes, if rightly controlled and guided, should be a welcome counterbalance to the too rigid materialism of the Germanic peoples and the cold selfishness of the tribes of the Latin dispersion. 8 The early Slavs of Russia summoned the Scandinavian hero Rurik (Hrorekr) and his brothers to rule over them, as they confessed that they could not govern themselves. From the Rurik family were descended the princes of Russia during the first historical period. The Russians have always required force, both under the Kingdom of Moscovy, the most notable figure of which was Ivan the Terrible, and under the subsequent empire. The present Bolshevik government is one of open force, drafting the people to work at the point of the bayonets of the admirably disciplined and organized "Red" army. * Sergius Nikolayevich Syromiatnikoff, Experiments in Russian Thought (in Russian), Book I, St. Petersburg, 1901. This work is a most interesting exposition of the eastward trend in Russian thought. It has unfortunately not been translated.
A NOTE
ON K A L M U K S
IN
BELGRADE1
T
H E R E IS at present in Belgrade a small colony numbering about two hundred persons consisting exclusively of Kalmuk Tatars (pronounced Kalmyk), who fled here from Russia during the first Bolshevik aggressions. Most Belgrade people are entirely ignorant of the existence of this curious group at the capital. The older men of this Kalmuk community were mostly members of Denikin's army and all are experienced horsemen. The King employs some twenty or more as grooms in the Royal stable and others have found work in connection with racingstables and the like. All these people are Buddhist Kalmuks and they are permitted to have their own Lama (priest) to minister to their religious needs. The Lama and an assistant Lama, together with a recognized Cantor (a sort of sub-deacon), are supported entirely by free-will offerings. The Lamas, who are strictly celibate, are in fact not allowed to work at all at any productive occupation. The Chief Lama (Kalm. aldyrta gelyn) has called several times at the Legation, in order to discuss with me the condition of his community and the mysteries of his particular sect. He speaks only Russian as his foreign language and is a rather intelligent type of Mongolian. He informs me that his Kalmuks have no complaint against the Serbs, who have treated them very nicely and allowed them to have their religious services in a private house (that of the Lama himself), although, he added, objection would probably 1 T h i s communication was sent by the Department of State to the Smithsonian Institution and transmitted to the editors [of the American Anthropologist] by Dr. A. Hrdlicka (Aug. 9, 1927). Reprinted from the American Anthropologist, N . S., X X X (1928), 341-345.
A N O T E ON K A L M U K S IN
BELGRADE
113
be raised if it were proposed to erect even a small temple, as Buddhism is not one of the legally recognized religions of Yugoslavia. The Lama further informed me that he had received his religious training from an older Lama in Astrakhan, where the majority of these Kalmuks originated, and that his teacher was a regular graduate of the lamasery of the Dalai Lama of Lhassa in Tibet, which is the centre of this branch of the Buddhistic faith. He then invited Military Attaché Godson and myself to attend a regular Buddhist service at which we should hear the ritual in full with the usual cantillation employed in all the lamaseries which owe allegiance in Tibet to the Dalai Lama. We agreed to accept this invitation and on May 15, 1927, we drove out to the Kalmuk colony, the members of which inhabit clean but small wooden houses on the outskirts of Belgrade. There, after receiving the formal greetings of the members of the colony, all of whom show the Mongolian type to a marked degree—short, thickset figures, with high cheek bones and eyes set obliquely— we entered the house to attend the service. Inasmuch as I am unable to find any detailed description of such a rite in any works on Lamaistic Buddhism, which deal chiefly with the faith of the Tibetan Buddhistic school, I venture to give herewith a full account of the ceremonies, which I saw at very close range, as Colonel Godson and myself stood in close proximity to the officiants in front of the shrine. The shrine consists of a square box of about three by three feet, covered with light blue paper and set upon an ordinary table also draped in blue, which is the color of the Buddha. Hung on the wall around the shrine are paintings of various Lamaistic saints (Boddhisats, see below), and, standing on top of the shrinebox, is a brass image of the first successor of Gautama Buddha. The front of the shrine is a square opening measuring about two by two feet, and inside of a tabernacle placed upon a shelf, halfway up in the middle of the opening, is a very small image of the
114
A N O T E ON K A L M U K S I N
BELGRADE
Buddha in black teak, surmounted by a paper representation of the triple Lamaistic mitre. In front of the shrine stands a credence, upon which are laid in serried rows fifteen small silver cups, in one of which burns a single small wax candle. The Chief Lama, Assistant Lama, and Cantor stand side by side, facing the altar with a small third table near them, on which are the aspergil, fixed in a small silver urn filled with holy water, a flagon filled with colored sugared water, and a brass dish, together with a dish full of roasted barleycorn (like our popcorn). On this serving table is also spread out an orange-colored maniple (armkerchief). The two Celebrants and the Cantor, standing side by side before the shrine, begin to intone, mostly in a unison varying only on two deep notes, certain prescribed aspirations to the Buddha from the Tibetan Lamaistic books in the Tibetan ritual language. The Kalmuks do not use Tibetan, but southern Mongolian. I observed with great interest that at the close of each long phrase, the singers expelled their breath with a choking sound in precisely the same manner as that followed in similar prayers or incantations when sung by the North American Zuni and Pueblo Indian priests when intoning their grain or corn rite. At certain points in the Buddhistic service, I think when the sacred name of Buddha (the Tibetan equivalent of the Nama Ammi Dabuts of the Japanese Buddhists) recurs with fervor, the Chief Lama covers his right arm as far as the wrist with the orange maniple and pours three times a double libation of the sugared water into the brazen dish, into which he had previously scattered a layer of the barleycorn. Taking up pieces of this mixture, the Lama flings them right and left, and then, dipping the aspergil into the holy water, he asperges the altar, but not his fellow officiants nor the congregation, thus apparently indicating an offering of the consecrated water to the Buddha, and not its use, as in Christian ritual, for purifying the people.
A N O T E ON K A L M U K S I N
BELGRADE
115
The maniple is shifted to the left arm whenever he uses that arm to touch a sacred vessel. It is interesting to note that, on top of the aspergil, is a peacock feather. Since the peacock is well known to be sacred to the evil or negative influence—for instance, the image of the entire bird is the object of adoration under the name of Melek Taus by the Yèzidis or Devil worshipers of Asia Minor—I asked the officiant why he used this apparently malign emblem over the holy water. He replied that as it is an evil and "poisonous" thing, the peacock feather is intended to keep the malignant spirits from entering into and thus polluting the sacred water; an interesting example of oriental homeopathy! As the service proceeded and finally came to a grand climax, when it suddenly ended, the chant-melody rose to a distinctly four-tone cantillation and closed with a word which sounded very like the prototype of our more modern Amen. In certain canticles the Cantor struck two convex pieces of silver together in rhythm with the chant, which action produced the effect of a sweet-toned bell and reminded one strongly of the mass-bell of the Roman Catholic church. In fact, the entire miseen-scene was reminiscent of the remark of the Abbé Hue when he first saw the Lamaistic ceremonial at Lhassa, that this was a "travesty" of the Roman ritual, a statement which was ridiculed by George Borrow in his strongly anti-Catholic works Lavengro and the Romany Rye, by making the Catholic priest in the dingle sneeringly refer to the Lamaistic ritual as having been copied by the Catholics. The Chief Lama was vested in an orange-colored cassock with a cincture of the same hue, and wore a light yellow stole over his left shoulder but not crossed. He did, however, once or twice during the rite, draw the stole across his breast in much the same manner as is done by the orthodox Greek priests. The vestment of the Assistant Lama was of the same shape, but of a much darker orange color, except that his stole was also light yellow. The Cantor
116
A NOTE
ON K A L M U K S
IN
BELGRADE
was also robed in cassock and girdle of even darker hue, but wore no stole, which is the priestly insignium. I t should be remembered by those interested in the evolution of ritual that the Lamaistic Buddhism of Tibet is a corrupted form of the simpler doctrine of the "Lord Gautama," the first Buddha, who taught the utmost simplicity of living and thought, striving only at a goal which is the very opposite to that of Christianity; viz., so to obliterate self by the killing of desire which, of course, also implied the elimination of ambition and energy, as eventually to be able to avoid the life or lives after death and to be absorbed into the essence of the All-pervading, and in this way to become one with Deity or as it is commonly expressed, "to attain Nirvana," which does not imply extinction but absorption. T o this simple system, which was too simple for the devious trends of the oriental mind, there were later added, especially in Tibet, a number of theological developments which arranged a series of heavens and added at least one new character, that of the Boddhisat, the being who has so evolved himself as to be on the plane directly below the Buddha, and who with the Buddha remains always the connecting link between the Divine and the Human, and who has the power at will to emerge from the Nirvana absorption and remanifest himself for the benefit of mankind. These Boddhisats are therefore beatified saints who have a great influence on human affairs. In addition to this the Tibetan school introduced gradually many of the demons of the original native region, who must be propitiated and held aloof from the sacred rites as seen above by means of such charms as the peacock's feather. The bell is also used as a method of frightening away devils and apparently not as a signal, as in the Roman Catholic church, to the faithful to adopt any special attitude of worship. In Tibet there are still two Grand Lamas, the reformed Dalai Lama or Yellow Lama, to whose school the Belgrade Kalmuks belong, and the Pantshen Lama or Red Lama whose followers still practice the grossly superstitious rites of the primitive pre-Bud-
A N O T E ON K A L M U K S I N
BELGRADE
117
dhistic animistic Tibetans. In spite of the difference between the two sects, both these Lamas are regarded as being incarnations of the Buddha, so much so, that when one dies, the survivor, either the Yellow or the Red Lama, has the right to choose the successor of the deceased by eliminating a list of three names from a larger list of male infants submitted to the surviving Grand Lama and then by ordering the priesthood of the higher grades, who like the Roman Cardinals, are entitled to a vote for the Head of the Church, to choose one of the three. Once elected, this child is regarded as being a Living Buddha. The Belgrade Yellow Lama informed me that the doctrine of transmigration is strictly held by his sect and that he teaches his flock that while it is manifestly impossible for any person leading the "world-life" to "get off the wheel of events" and attain anything approaching to Nirvana, he can assure a better reincarnation to those of his people who have "lived well," that is, who have followed the precepts of ordinary morality, such as those against theft, adultery, and so forth. It is strange to find this model little community of Mongol(Kalmuk) speaking Tatars—only some of the leaders know Russian and a little broken Serb—so far west as Belgrade, and I have, therefore, considered their presence here as worthy of record, although they cannot in any sense be regarded as a political minority.
THE
GOTTSCHEE OF
GERMANS
SLOVENIA1
V
E R Y L I T T L E is known of the isolated Germanic minority in Yugoslavia known as the Gottschee Germans, who live in a small community not far from Laibach (Ljubljana), entirely surrounded by Slavs. Strange to say, this small tribe of 15,000 persons is comparatively unknown, even in Yugoslavia. These people attracted attention to themselves early in August of this year by celebrating the six-hundredth anniversary of the foundation of their colony (August 3, 1930). To these ceremonies the German, the Austrian, and the American Ministers were invited, an invitation which I unfortunately could not accept, because I was in Czechoslovakia at the time. Being interested, however, in this group, I invited a delegation of Gottscheers to visit me at Bled and was able from them, as well as from a number of wandering peddlers of their race, to learn something of their history, traditions, and unique language. The number of these people which is now so small and the fact that they form an island surrounded by Slovenes have made the Yugoslav Government treat them with every consideration, because they are rightly regarded as completely harmless. For centuries, even under Austrian rule, they had little or no connection with other German-speaking people, but were permitted to grow as a thing apart. Their territory, which lies to the southeast of Laibach, in a mountain district, also helps them to preserve their distinctively national character. In 1880, owing to the fact that the small territory allotted them by ancient law was becoming 1
Reprinted from Proceedings American Philosophical Society, L X X (1931), 391-398.
T H E G O T T S C H E E G E R M A N S OF S L O V E N I A
119
too narrow for the then population of 30,000, 15,000 of them emigrated almost in a body to the United States and Canada, where they and their descendants are still flourishing. Because there are a great many members of this race in and near Cleveland, Ohio, I was invited as American Minister to the recent celebration. I might add that I sent them a letter of congratulation in German, together with a poem in their own dialect quoted from almost the only work on the subject, The Jubilee Festival Book of their sixhundredth anniversary. They are an extremely prosperous community and owing to the fact of their having been almost unmolested by their Slovene neighbors, who look upon them with more or less good-natured contempt, they have carefully preserved their two most distinctive features, namely, their costumes and their almost unintelligible dialect. At the present time, practically every member of the community speaks German and Slovene besides their own language, because the Yugoslav Government, which by the way, sent an official representative to their anniversary last August, has made no effort to check the development either of the religion or the language of the Gottscheers. The history of the community really dates further back than 600 years, as the first colony from all parts of Austria and even Bavaria and Thuringia came some two centuries earlier. There is a very early church record from this place which dates back to 1177, the time of the Margrave, Albert the Bear, who sent as far as Brandenberg to obtain German colonists for his territory. This region was dominated by a long line of German-Austrian overlords, the most important of whom, Count Otto von Ortenburg, in 1330 established the district as a regular feudal fief. In 1377, Gottschee attained the official rank of a "market town," and in 1471, the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick the Fourth, raised the "market" to the rank of a "city," whose seal, given by him, is still preserved in the old city hall. In 1479, the place was made a customs-free district. In the following year it was taken by the Turks, who ravaged the entire region and destroyed the even then
120 T H E G O T T S C H E E
GERMANS
OF
SLOVENIA
old church in the town. From 1809 to 1815, Gottschee was a part of the artificial French Kingdom of Illyria, but the inhabitants of this district revolted against the French rule almost at once and attacked the French garrison in the city. In punishment for this act, the French intended to burn the entire place, but, owing to the petition of the local clergyman, George Jonke, who had rescued many French prisoners from the Gottscheers' fury, the order was rescinded and the place was given over instead to plunder for three days, October 16-18, 1809. Down to the present time, the Gottscheers have retained a marked hatred for anything pertaining to France, in contradistinction to the Francophile attitude of their Slovene neighbors and the bulk of the present Yugoslavs. After the Great War, in 1919, the German-speaking officials and professors were dismissed by the Yugoslav Government, but in 1924 Belgrade relented and gave full voting and language rights to the inhabitants of this region. Of course, in the interim the Gottscheers did not neglect to keep up their local customs and idiom. At the present time, the city and district are supervised by a Slovene financial counselor who is also burgomaster, but the City Council is evenly divided between five Gottschee-Germans and five Slovenes. The great apostle of Gottschee, the late Dr. Hans Tschinkel, prepared a grammar of the idiom, in German, but this has not yet been published. Profiting by the speech of such Gottscheers as I have met, and using Gottscheer Volkslieder, published in 1930 by Walter de Gruyter and Company, of Berlin and Leipzig, I venture to submit the following brief sketch of the language, the first which—so far as I know—has appeared in English. The language is distinctly a High German phenomenon, belonging to the same group as the Allemannic idioms of Switzerland and Bavaria. Some have compared it to Gothic, owing to its many archaic forms, but Gothic was Low German, using the t instead of z (ts) in such words as zwei (two), which is universal in Low
THE
GOTTSCHEE
G E R M A N S OF S L O V E N I A
121
German, twee ( D u t c h ) ; tvä (Swedish); to (Danish); two (Eng.), and so forth. The Gottschee phonetic system is the same as in German, except t h a t Gottschee sh = the French j in jour. T h e following table of changes between modern German and Gottschee will illustrate why the Gottschee is so unintelligible: GERMAN GOTTSCHEE
a ä b d e
-— o; — ue; —p; omitted; —a;
ei — oai; el — au; g inserted;
i konn—ich kann; baas ischt dos—was ist das? schpuet—spät (late); luet—lässt (leaves), proait—breit (wide); prueder—Bruder (brother), ass—dass; ahin—dahin (thither), assen—essen (eat); bag—Weg (road); labait— lebet (he lives); harz—Herz (heart), hoaiss—heiss (hot); also ei—uai, as uain—ein (one), shauber—selber (self). frage—Frau (woman); Duschagest—Duschau(e)st (thou) seest.
1 omitted in Inlaut; shauber—selber (self); hausch—Hals (neck); asho —also (then), o •— oa; oar—Ohr (ear), ö —• ea (ia); schean (schian)—schön (beautiful), s •— sh (French j); shein—sein (to be); geshund—gesund (healthy); shauber—selber (self), s —sch; ischt—ist (is), u — a; nar—nur (only). w •— b;
bie—wie (how); shbester—Schwester (sister).
The personal pronouns are as follows: SINGULAR
N. Poss. D. A.
i (ich) mein dar, mein deu, mein dos mir mi
du (Du) dein dar, dein deu, dein dos dir di
122
THE GOTTSCHEE
G E R M A N S OF
SLOVENIA
PLURAL
N. Poss. D. A.
bir, b'r (wir) unsch dar, unsch deu, unsch dos insch insch
ihr (Ihr) air dar, air deu, air dos ai ( = Euch) ai
SINGULAR
N. Poss. D. A.
ar (er) shein dar, shein deu, shein dos ihmon, mon an, in, 'n
shi (sie) ihr dar, ihr deu, ihr dos ihr shi
ins shein dar, shein deu, shein dos ihmon, mon ins
PLURAL
N. Poss. D. A.
shei (sie "they") ihr dar, ihr deu, ihr dos ihnen shei
T h e possessives are expressed without inflection of the actual pronoun, gender being indicated by means of the following article: as mein dar prueder my brother;, mein deu tufel my table (meine Tafel); mein dos hausch my house, and so forth. Note, however, unschi atti, our father, instead of unsch dar atti. When a preposition precedes, the construction is zam prueder mein, to my brother; uf shein de knie, upon his knees, and so forth. The indefinite article is M.
N. G. D. A.
F.
a (for all three genders) ins or a a or inar em, im a or inar an, in a
N.
ins, es am, im ins, es
T H E G O T T S C H E E G E R M A N S OF S L O V E N I A
123
The definite article which, as just seen, plays so important a role in the possessive construction is as follows: N. G. D. A.
dar des damon dan
deu dar dar deu
dos des damon dos
The feminine deu recalls Old High German, diu.
In combination with prepositions, note zam prueder mein, to my brother; zan tiefen scheebe, to the deep lake (observe ze {zu) with the Accusative!); pei damon = dabei, really bei dem. The plural of the definite article is de, dar, den, de for all genders. The relative pronoun is perhaps the most peculiar characteristic formation of the dialect: M.
F.
N.
lai ber, lai be, lai bes = welcher, welche, welches. The accusative masculine is lai bei = welchen. Thus far I have no other forms. Note dos ringgele lai bes du hon mi gab'n, the ring which you gave to me; dar bueb lai bei i hon gesckaget, the boy whom I saw. The plural is lai bele, as de roaslein lai bele in Valde boksch'n tent, the roses which are growing (wachsen thun) in the forest. The element lai is perhaps the Slavic le = only, while ber, be, bes are contractions of welcher (b for w), and so forth. The noun shows no special grammatical peculiarity except that certain feminine nouns decline in the «-declension, as ze Minein, to Mina. Note the construction: dem pruedersch de kinder, to the brother's children. The verb is highly archaic, as will be seen from the following brief citations: i hon, du hoscht ich habe, Du hast
ar hot (habait) er hat
bir hon, ihr habait wir haben, Ihr habet
124 T H E G O T T S C H E E G E R M A N S O F
SLOVENIA
shei hont or habent (sie haben). The long forms habait, habent are not used as a rule as auxiliaries (see below). "Can" is expressed: i mug, I can; bir rnegen, we can ( = ich mag-wir mögen). i pin ich bin
du pischt Du bist
ar ischt er ist
bir shein wir sind
ihr sheid Ihr seid
shei shein sie sind
The imperfect is ar bart or barait = er war, and with the participle i pin gebän = ich bin gewesen. The past participle is expressed both with and without ge-, as i hon geschoait = ich habe gesagt, but i pin gean = ich bin gegangen; shei hont dos et vunn = sie haben das nicht gefunden, they have not found that. Note that the negative is always et, a contraction for net (S. Germ. nit). Double negatives are very common, as pei damon hon i kuain nutzen et = dabei habe ick kein Nutzen nicht, I have no use for such a thing. Gottschee shares this peculiarity with Slavonic, as nikad nisam bio tamo, never have I not been there. The archaic character of the ordinary third person of verbs should be remarked, as shi baschot = sie wäscht, she is washing; ar hevot = er hebt, he is lifting; shei puschont = sie bussen (küssen), they are kissing. In the singular we have also -ait, instead of -ot as above, as ar pHngait = er bringt, he is bringing; shi schahait = sie schaut, she is looking. Note also the second person, plural ihr geanait = Ihr gehet, you are going. Of the numerals I have noted zboai, zbuei = zwei, two; zbean Herren, to the two gentlemen; neuter plural zbian roaslein, two roses. The following phrases will serve to illustrate still further the archaic character of the dialect: de dirnlein kehrent schmoaraisch schpuet aus, the girls go out early in the morning; ischt dar prueder dein atinne? is your brother at home? dar prueder mein ischt et hoaim, my brother is not at home.
T H E G O T T S C H E E G E R M A N S OF S L O V E N I A
125
SONG De schpoabar pliehet af Goreisch Hausch Ber ischt atinne? Mina deu junge! Ber wandelt ummar? Matt'l dar junge! Roasche, roasche rot Bos hot Matt'l ze Minein geschoait?
De Sperber fliegt auf Gregors Haus Wer ist darinnen? Mine die junge Wer flieget herüber? Matthias der junge Rose, Rose rot Was hat Matthias zu Mine gesagt?
The sparrow-hawk flies over Gregor's house. Who is within? Oh Young Mina Who flies over [me]? Matthias the young O rose, red rose What said Matthias to Mina? The melodies are simple and the religious songs are very ancient, dating from the medieval days of the miracle plays. I t is most strange, motoring through Slovenia, suddenly to come upon an ancient oasis which takes one back to pre-medieval Germany. Seeing the women's quaint headdresses and hearing this extraordinary language, which, in spite of its Germanic character, owing to the odd pronunciation does not sound in the least like German, the traveller feels almost as if he had been transported to a distant planet whose light-rays show the earth as it was many hundred years ago.
THE
DANISH
DIALECT
OF
BORNHOLM1
T
INTRODUCTION
H E Island of Bornholm lies in the Baltic Sea, 115 miles east of Copenhagen, about 22 miles south of the Swedish coast, and 50 miles north of the German island of Riigen. T h e total area of the island, which also includes the little group of isles known as Christianso, is 225 square miles, with a population of over 43,000. Bornholm (ON. 2 Borgundarholmur) was the habitat in prehistoric times of an early Nordic race and there are still a number of stone circles, many so-called bautarsteinar,3 and other primitive remains on the island, especially in the neighborhood of Almindingen and Gudhjem. The population developed later into predatory Vikings, who were long notorious for their marauding proclivities. In the twelfth century, Bornholm became a fief of the Archbishop of Lund, under which sway the island remained until 1510, when it was seized by the Hanseatic League, b u t was captured b y the Danes in 1522, and returned by them to the City of Liibeck in 1526. The Swedes took the island in 1625, and their domination was assented to by Denmark in 1658 by the Peace of Roskilde. The Bornholmers, however, desired to be Danish and themselves expelled the Swedish garrison in 1660, since which date Bornholm has been an integral part of Denmark. The curious round churches built in tower-shape and completely circular, with walls often six feet thick, form one of the most interesting features 1 Reprinted from Proceedings American Philosophical Society, L X I I I (1924), 190-207* Old Norse: Borgundarhdlmr; Icel. -holmur, a term which in a modified form, Borgunderholm, was used until quite recently in Danish. ' Memorial stones.
THE
D A N I S H D I A L E C T OF B O R N H O L M
127
of the island. These buildings, which date from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, were undoubtedly used at an early d a t e for purposes of defense. The Bornholmers have always had their distinct speech, which, although popularly regarded by the other Danes as a Swedish dialect, is really the modern representative of the old East Danish linguistic group to which south Scandian, now in Sweden, also belongs. Bornholmsk shows only a superficial resemblance to true Swedish. T h e distinctively Danish dialects m a y be classified as follows: (1) West Danish, comprising the several idioms of Jutland, whose chief peculiarity is the complete rejection of the ON. ending -a; (2) Island Danish, comprising the dialects of Fyen-Langeland; north and south Sjaelland, including the city idiom of Copenhagen, a refined form of which has become the standard Danish (Rigssprog), and the almost uniform speech of Lolland-Falster, all which variants substitute -e for the ON. -a; (3) East Danish: Bornholmsk and southern Scandian (skansk) in Sweden, shading towards the north into real Swedish; both groups retain the ON. -a, in distinction from the other divisions. Similarly to the linguistic movement on the Faeroes, there exists a less organized action on Bornholm to lay stress on the local dialect which they call a "language," because it is unintelligible to other Danes, and m a n y purists on the island strongly resent the constantly increasing introduction of Danisms from the standard tongue. T h e y are equally annoyed at the statement t h a t Bornholmsk is a Swedish patois, pointing out t h a t so different is their language from Swedish that, when Swedes come to settle on Bornholm, they never learn to speak the dialect correctly. This is perfectly true, as no real Swede can pronounce the palatalized consonants which distinguish Bornholmsk (see below) from most other Germanic idioms. The Frisian of Sylt is distinctly palatal and the ordinary soft I of modern Icel. is practically a palatal lingual. T h e B. n (palatal gn) is, however, rare in Germanic dia-
128
T H E D A N I S H D I A L E C T OF
BORNHOLM
lects, appearing however in certain other Danish variants, as in Jutland and Fyen. There are, so far as I know, no societies devoted to the preservation of Bornholmsk, for which reason the dialect will in the course of time be crowded out by the Standard Danish of the government schools, a process which has already begun in the towns, particularly in Rönne, the capital of the island. The most striking popular defense of the local idiom is that of P. Möller, a landscape gardener, who in his Bornholm Language4 laments the decay of the old words and forms and inveighs against the "snobbish" desire of the younger people to assimilate their beautiful speech to the harsh and monotonous phonetics of Copenhagen. Möller's description of the dialect is, however, not scientific and, therefore not so valuable for the purpose of record as the highly accurate phonetic treatise of Professor Vilhelm Thomsen and that of Professor Ludvig F. A. Wimmer on the Bornholmsk grammar, both included in J. C. S. Espersen's Bornholm Dictionary,5 I t should be added that Bornholmsk has had two poets of considerable merit; viz., Espersen himself and J. P. Möller (d. 1891) who, although only a baker in Allinge, was a highly gifted and manysided genius. Some of the poems of both these writers are given in the edition of the dictionary in question. 6 There is also a very good collection of Bornholm melodies assembled by H. Johansen, 7 which gives a large number of characteristic native folk songs, with words and music. The material for the present sketch, which, so far as known, is the first description in English of Bornholmsk, was obtained during a visit to the Island from a number of personal sources, especially from natives resident at some distance from the towns. The best speaker of the dialect whom I heard was a Mrs. Jespersen, 4
Del Bornholmske Sprog af P. Möller, Havearkitekt og Landskabsgartner, Rönne, 1918. ' J. C. S. Espersen, Bornholmsk Ordbog, med Indledning og Tillaeg, udgivel af del Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Copenhagen, 1908. * See Bornholmsk Ordbog, pp. 150-69. 7 Viser i Bornholmsk Mundart, samledc af H. Johansen, Rönne, 1911.
T H E D A N I S H D I A L E C T OF B O R N H O L M
129
the custodian of one of the most ancient of the round churches, who was able to speak both Danish and Bornholmsk without confusion. This material has been amplified and confirmed by the above-mentioned works. PHONETICS 8 The Bornholmsk phonetics are rather complicated and the difficulty of recording the dialect is greatly magnified by the accepted method of writing, which, in at least one important respect, is inaccurate, as the combination -jn is used throughout for two different sounds; viz., for ng as in singing and for the palatal gn as in French signe ( = n). The system dates from Espersen's manuscript prepared in the early half of the nineteenth century, but corrected to a certain extent, as indicated above, by Professor Thomsen. It should be noted, however, that some of the modern writers in the dialect now distinguish between the soft wg-sound and the palatal n, using ng for the former and jn only for the latter vocable. The rules for the pronunciation of Bornholmsk may be tabulated as follows: a, flat, as in hat; a or a, as ah; aa = D. long aa, like Eng. o in lone; b, as in Eng.; never soft as medial or final, as in D.; d = hard d as initial, but nearly as dh (= th in this) as medial or final, except that medial dd is always pronounced hard and with emphasis (final d is sometimes omitted, as in vad "what," but it is usually omitted in writing in such cases); e = e in met; e = ee in Germ. Seele; f as in Eng., often omitted in pronunciation as a medial, as aette = efter = "after"—ota = ofta "often," and so forth; g, as Eng. hard g; gj or g is the palatalized g, an approximation between dy and soft Eng. j; h, as in Eng.; i = short i in pin; i = ee in feel; j = Eng. consonantal y, when B. ; is used con8 The following abbreviations have been used: B. = Bornholmsk; conj. = conjunction; D. = Danish; def. = definite; Eng. = English; Germ. = German; Icel. = modem Icelandic; indef. = indefinite; n. = note; OD. = Old Danish; ON. = Old Norse; pi. = plural; sg. = singular; Sw. = Swedish; Wimmer = article in Introduction to Espersen's Ordbog Bornholmsk (n. 5).
130
T H E D A N I S H D I A L E C T OF
BORNHOLM
sonantally (but see just below); jd = d' = palatalized d (dy); jl = I' = palatalized /, as Span. II; jn = n, as in French signe, but in some texts = ng as in singing (see above); k as in Eng.; kj = c, palatalized ch as Pol. c; I, almost like the American I in well (not so hard as the Eng. pronunciation); m and n as in Eng.; o = obscure Sw. o, almost oo in good; o = Eng. oh; p, as in Eng.; r, always trilled on the tip of the tongue (never gutturalized as in D.); s, as initial = s in sad—as medial or final = Eng. 5 in rose ( = z) and is usually indicated by z in such cases; sj = s, a palatalized sh like Polish S and often a trifle rougher, like an obscure Eng. sh; skj and stj = sc; viz., s with palatal c; t, as in Eng.; t' = c,u = oo in soot; u = Sw. long u, like the Magyar ii (not Germ, it); v, hard and never slurred as in D.; w occurs chiefly in the combination aw = ou in house, sometimes written au (or ou); y (always a vowel) = D. y or Magyar u; a = Eng. o in mortal (aa is used for the long vowel); aj, diphthong of a and short i; ae, when short, almost = a in hat; ae = Eng. a in care; aej diphthong of ae and short i; aew, diphthong of ae and short u; o = i in bird and sometimes short Germ, ii, as in D. kod "meat." INTONATION AND ACCENT Bornholmsk has no glottal catch, so frequent in standard Danish and Juttish, but, like the Danish dialects of Lolland-Falster and Fyen-Langeland, uses the glided vowel exclusively. Unlike Sw., B. has no distinct musical tones, although there exists in B. a recognized rather monotonous musical intonation, which causes the Copenhageners to assert that the Bornholmers "sing." This intonation is more agreeable than the "sobbing" cadence used by the vulgar Copenhageners. There is, therefore, in B. no tonal differentiation in meaning, as, for example, in Sw. between axel, "axle," and axel, "shoulder," pronounced respectively axel (two tones) and axel (one tone). The word is awsel in B. for both senses, which must be determined by context. Wimmer points out (pp. 66-67) that the stress-accent in B. differs very slightly from that
T H E D A N I S H D I A L E C T OF B O R N H O L M
131
of the standard D., and that, when it does differ, the stress resembles Sw. or else is entirely distinct, as in nouns ending in -i such as feskeri, where the accent may rest on the first or the last syllable indifferently; thus, feskeri means "fishery" in general, but feskeri = "fishing." It is doubtful whether Bornholmers will ever learn to pronounce D. after the standard fashion, as even the young children find the glottal catch an impossibility. Danish spoken without this unpleasing peculiarity always indicates an "outsider"; viz., either a foreigner or a rural person. It should be noted that, when consonants are doubled in B., they must be dwelt upon in the same manner as in Italian, a phenomenon unknown in Danish, but usual in Swedish. The following extracts, the first in the accepted spelling with the literal Danish and Swedish equivalent text, the second in the accepted spelling with Wimmer's phonetic version and Danish translation, and the third in phonetic rendering as heard by me with Danish equivalent, will serve to illustrate the dialect. I9 B&rrijnhilmama, daer nu i minga Aar ha (1) arbajad hen te L faa (2) dirra Bornholmerne, der nu i mange Aar har arbeidet hen til at faa deres Bomholmarna, som nu i m&nga i r ha arbetat for att f i sitt Spraag satt paa Modan, ha, forudan dl firra (3) haer i Baagen omtalde Sprog sat paa Moden, har, foruden de faa her i Bogen omtalte sprik satt p i modet, ha, forutom de fd har i boken omtalte Maadama, aw tad (4) daejn sompla Framgangsmaadan te Jaelp, laejefram 4 (5) Maaderne, ogsaa taget den simple Fremgangsmaade til Hjaelp, ligefrem at metoder, ocksa tagit det enkla tillvagagaende till hjalp, rent av at kassera en Maejnde Or, som ha syjnts dom i varra for birrijnhalmska, kassere en Maengde Ord, som syntes dem at vaere for bornholmske, kassera en stor del ord, som syntes dem att vara for bornholmska, aejle som, me anra (6) Or, ha vad (4) dom for majed forsjellia fraa dl danske. eller som, med andre Ord, har vaeret dem altfor forskellige fra de danske. eller som, med andra ord, ha varit dem altfor skilda frin de danska. 9
Det Bornholmske Sprog, p. 71, n. 4. The numerals refer to the commentary below_
132
THE DANISH
D I A L E C T OF
BORNHOLM
Nu hâr vaart Spraag ju i ajl âërene Tîd vâd et râêjt (7) Spraag, sâ vi kojne (8) Nu har vort Sprog jo fra Arilds Tid vaeret et rigt Sprog, saa at vi kan Nu har vârt sprâk ju frân urâldriga tider varit ett rikt sprâk, sâ att vi kunna sâjtas (9) ojnvaera ijn Haaven Or à (3) livael hà nok te Huzbehaw. sagtens undvaera en Masse Ord og alligevel have nok til Husbrug. verkligen undvara mânga Ord ock likvâl hava nog till husbehov. Men ser (10) ijn lijd nâjara aette (11), blër ijn snàrt vâr (12), a de(d) ijkje naer Men ser man lidt noiagtere efter, bliver man snart opmaerksom paa, at de ikke naer Men ser man lite nogare efter, blir man snart opmarksam pâ, att de icke altid e di Om som vi baest kojne ojnvaere (13), dî ha kassêrt (14), men a di altid er de Ord som vi bedst kan undvaere, de har kasseret, men at de altid aro de ord som vi bast kunna undvara, de ha kasserat, men att de mâjed ôta (11) e Or som vi kojne hâ Brôg for à som nâwe kajn aerstattas (13) meget ofte er Ord som vi kan have Brug for og som neppe kan erstattes mycket ofta âro ord som vi kunna hava bruk for ock som knappt kunna ersattas me aenkla danska Or. Ota e de(dh) ed Or som daer ska fiera danska Or te â med enkelte danska Ord. Ofte er det et Ord som der skal flere danske Ord til at med enkla danska ord. Ofta àr det ett ord som det behoves fiera danska ord till att forklâra â for mânga â dom ska daer ëjndaa sâ gâled hêla Saetnijner te â forklare og for mange af dem skal der endog findes hele Saetninger til at fôrklara ock for mânga av dem skola aven anvandas hela satningar till att forklâra. Detta e sâ forârjelit, a ijn kajn blê hëlt hârmse (15) paaed, forklare. Dette er saa forargeligt, at man kan blive helt vred paa det, fôrklara. Detta àr sâ fôrargelsesvackande, att man kan bli helt vred pâ det, naar ijn taenjnkjer saj, a de(d) e vaara âjena Landsmaejn som—i naar man taenker sig, at det er vore egne Landsmaend som—i nàr man tanker sig, att det âro vâra egna landsman som—i ren Forblijnelse—hâr borred dom sâ rystoppena (16) gâled (17) ad. Men de(d) e âw ren Forblindelse—har baaret dem saa ganske gait ad. Men det er ogsaa ren forblindelse—ha burit sig sâ ganska galet ât. Men det âr ocksâ forârjelit, a di hâ kassêrt soddena (18) Or, for, sael om dessa kajn udtrykja forargeligt, at de har kasseret saadanne Ord, for, selv om disse kan udtrykke fôrargelsesvackande, att de ha kasserat sâdana ord, ty aven om dessa kunna uttrycka Menijnen, sâ kajn di alri komma te â passa i vaart Spraag, men vil stôdda Betydningen, saa kan de aldrig komma til at passe i vort Sprog, men vil stôde betydelsen, sâ kunna de aldrig komma till att vara passande i vârt sprâk, men skola stôta â skârra i Om â gjârra vaart aejlans sâ naetta bârrijnhâlmska Spraag styjgjara. og hakke Orene og gôre vort ellers saa behaglige bomholmske Sprog grimmere. ock hacka ôronen ock gôra vârt annars sâ behagliga bornholmska sprâk fulare.
T H E D A N I S H D I A L E C T OF B O R N H O L M
133
LITERAL TRANSLATION The Bornholmers, who now for many years have worked to get their language made fashionable, have, in addition to the few methods mentioned in this book, also adopted (taken) the simple procedure of rejecting a great many words which seemed to them to be too Bornholmsk or, in other words, which have seemed (been) to them too different from the Danish (words). Now, our language has been from time immemorial a rich language, so that we really can do without a lot of words and at the same time have enough left over for household use. But if one examines the case a little more closely (exactly), one will at once (soon) be aware that it is not by any means always those words which we can best dispense with that they have rejected, but that these are very often words which we could have use for and which scarcely can be replaced by single Danish words. Often it is a word which it takes several Danish words to explain and, for many of them, even whole sentences must be used to explain (them). This is so annoying that one can get very angry at it, when one considers that it is our own countrymen who, in sheer blindness, have behaved (themselves) so stupidly. But it is also annoying that they have rejected such words, because ( = for), even if these (i. e., the new words chosen) can express the sense, they can never come to be suitable in our language, but will shock and irritate ( = cut) (our) ears and make our otherwise so agreeable Bornholmsk language (much) more ugly. II 10 God awlan, liden Etna Gods fred! Good evening, little Elna, God's peace! God awlan, min deilia rosa! Good evening my beautiful rose! ad gubbajn hajn vill jreia, jd vedd, That the old man will court you I know, Men tousluijn vastujo toza. But if you took him, you would be a foolish lass.
Go aulan, lidhen Aelna, go(dh)s fredh! God Aften, lille Elna, Guds Fred! Go awlan, min d&jlio roza! God Aften min deilige Rose! A gobban had vellfrajja, ja vedk, At Gubben vil vel fri, veed jeg, Maen tawstuin, vastu (19) ju toza. Men tog Du ham, var Du jo en Tosse.
Te ofrol dedh lakkar veil snarara, Du!
Te efriil de' lakkar vael snarara, Du!
10
See n. 11.
134
THE DANISH
D I A L E C T OF
BORNHOLM
T o funeral ale it is drawing near (for him), do you see? En konna—dedh bier nok for sijlla, A wife—it is much too late (for t h a t ) , lien jd gir i stjarnar pi piblana nu, B u t I a m going to peep a t the girls now,
Til Gravöl lakker d e t nok snarere, D u !
Forr jd e pi ni nu si vijlla. For I a m almost ready (to marry). Hvad, Itden Elna! Hvad min deilia roza! W h a t , little E l n a ! W h a t m y beautiful rose!
Fir jd e pini nu si vil'l'a. For nu er jeg naesten i Stand dertil. Vd, lidhen Aelna! Vd, min ddjlia rdza! H v a d lille E l n a ! H v a d min deilige Rose!
En kinna—de' bier nik (20) fir sil'l'a, En Kone—det bliver nok for silde, Maenjd gir i siaernar (21) pi piblana nu, M e n jeg gaar og kigger paa Pigeme nu,
Ill 1 1 COLLOQUIAL PHRASES Se hacr vdjä hdr te däj; praestin tid haeruda i jd ficc de(d) udi (22) hannöm. Se her hvad jeg har til Dig; Presten var herude og jeg fik det fra ham. See here w h a t I have for y o u ; t h e priest was out there and I got it from him. Maajanle (23) gaa te caerta? Ja, maen hör vdjd sajjer däj; kom sndrt ijen te baellana (24). Maajeg ikke gaa til Kir ken? Ja, men hör hvad jeg siger Dig; kom snart tilbage til Börnene. M a y I not go to church now? Yes, b u t listen to what I tell you; come back soon to the children. Hon ficc cd dned sin ijolde men (25) jemm. Han före-na (26) mc sdj. Hun aendrede sin Mening ogfidgde med ham hjem. Han forde hende med sig. She changed her mind and went home w i t h him. He took her with him. Roserna tdva darr a bid nü. Vinlerin kommer. Roserne tabe deres Blade nu. Vinteren kommer. T h e roses are losing their petals now. W i n t e r is coming. Hail hör in lidin horra (27) ä to pibla (28). Han hdr trc baella. Han har een lille Dreng og to Piger. Han har tre Börn. H e has one little boy and two little girls. H e has three children. Horrin fitt pry I (29) i bonin som han möte paa vaen. Drengen fik Prygl fra Bonden som han mödte paa Vejen. T h e boy got a beating (a cudgel) from t h e peasant whom he met on the road. De(d) vd Hie (inte) nötti i gdrra, Det var ikke nödvendigt at göre. I t was n o t necessary to do t h a t . u
Bornholmsk
Ordbog, p. 150, n. 5.
T H E D A N I S H D I A L E C T OF B O R N H O L M
135
Kom hair, göa Tenner, d tön jorr en rüzt Kom her, gode Venner, og drik Noget (tag J er en Rus = 'get drunk')! Come here, good friends, and have a drink (with us)! Ha A iaeAte paa i ¿efta saj d ¿M ud i fräjja d saa möle han en päjja (30) doer aelskadiH (31) mdjed. Han taenkte paa at gifte sig og saa gik han ud at frie og traf en Pige der eiskede ham meget. He thought of getting married and so he went out and met a girl who loved him very much. E doer vann (32) udi titan (33)? Ja, maen de(d) maa dünte (34) faa. De(d) skä hestana hd. Er der Vand i Spatiden? Ja, men del maa Du ikke faa. Dei skal Heslene have. Is there water in the pail? Yes, but you can't have that. The horses must have it. Lokk dorn op d läii (35) gaa ud. Lukk Dörren op og lad ham gaa ud. Open the door and let him go out. Vir e piblan nu? Hon fann horrin d trat men (25) jemm. Hvor er Pigebarnet nu? Hunfandt Drengen og trak hjem med ham. Where is the little girl now? She found the boy and went home with him. Haii spöre mäj skäjä ¿e jorr in bärrinhäimsk sdng; maen de' kan jante ¿drra fdrr ja har forgatt al't. Han spurgde mig, om jeg vil give J er en bornholmsk Sang (36), men del kan jeg ikke göre, for jeg har glemt det Hele. H e asked me to give you a Bornholm song, but I cannot, for I have forgotten everything.
COMMENTARY ON THE TEXTS (1) arbäjad, "worked"; also written arbead and arbiad. (2) ddrra, "their"; used in B., as in D. as the 3d per. possessive reflexive, which in Sw. is always sin (m. and f.), silt (n.); pi. sina, used for both sg. and pi. (3) fdrra, "few"; note -rr- and the redundant pi. -a (cf. Icel./utr). (4) tad, contraction for täged, " t a k e n " ; cf. väd for vdrid, "been" (other examples below). (5) d = conj. og, " a n d , " the prep, a f , "of" (as in udi, n. 23) and also the infin. particle at. (6) dnra, pi. of äriin, " o t h e r " (D. pi. andre). Note the elision of d, pronounced in both D. and Sw. (7) The k is completely elided from the original kt = -k, plus neuter -I: raekl (D. rigt) and the subsequent palatalization of the I to i (n. 9). (8) kojne = kone; pres. pi. kunne, as Sw. kunna, but lost in D. = kan for both numbers. (9) sajtas = saC(i)as = D. sagtens, "really"; note elision of g (original gl) and palatalization of t to t, and total disappearance of -n (cf. n. 7). (10) ijn = in = D. een, "one," used in B. for the D. and Germ, indef. man (Fr. on). T h e indef. man is never used in true B. (11) aette = D. efter, " a f t e r " and ON. eptir. Here there is no palatalization as in ns. 7 and 9. Note also B. öta = D. ofte, with compensative long o for loss of -/-.
136
THE DANISH
D I A L E C T OF
BORNHOLM
(12) vor, "aware" = D. and Norse var (not in use in colloquial D.) = Germ, gewahr. (13) ojnvaere, "dispense with"; a Danism: undvaere in D. is a Germanism like undvara in Sw. = Germ, entbehren. It should really be undvarra in B., as the verb "to be," on whose analogy the word is made, is varra. Note also B. aerstattas = D. erstattes, also a Germanism, from erstatten. (14) kassert, "rejected"; observe the absence of the vowel (a) before the participial t (D. kasseret; Sw. kasserat). (15) hdrmse, "angry"; cf. Sw. harmsen, "angry" and D. Harme, "indignation." (16) rystoppena galed, "exceedingly stupidly"; used in B. only with galed; OD. ryskgalen, "very angry" (rysker means "mad" in B.). Toppena = Dalicarlian tuppande (Espersen, 279), "one who is excessive," probably cognate with Germ, toben, "rage" (thus Espersen). (17) galed, "stupid" = Sw. galet. (18) söddena, "such," pi. Note ö for D. short aa, pron. like short Eng. aw; D. saadane, but Sw. sidan, with long d. (19) laustuiA, "tookst thou him" = "if thou didst take him" = OD. logst Du ham. (20) näk, "enough," pron. almost like short nok, as in D.; cf. Sw. nög. (21) scaernar, "stare"; cogn. with Eng. stare more than with D. stirre. The expression pintI = D. naesten, "almost," is purely B., and now almost obsolete. Pänä is probably a translation of Ger. beinahe (cf. Frisian binai; Sylt.). (22) udi hannömm; lit. "out of him" (see n. 5) = D. udaf in the same sense (cf. New York slang: ojf'n him "from him"). (23) jante = ja inte, "I not." (24) baella, "children." This stem is probably not bälg, "bellows," from the pot bellies of small children, but the same as in south Ger. bübli, dim. of bube, "boy." It is seen also in Scotch billy, "boy, lad." It is probable that the American slang Bill, used in address for any name at all, contains the forgotten sense boy. The sg. in B. is baell with the masc. article baellin, "the child." (25) men = medin, "with him"; D. med'en = med ham. (26) före-na = f ore haerie, "he took her." (27) horra, "boy"; a difficult word and purely B., thought by some to be cogn. with herre in Smäländsk ollherre, "cattle-boy" (Espersen, 134), but this herre is probably a variant of Sw. herde, seen in färherde, "shepherd"; D. Eyrie; Germ. Hirt, and scarcely connected with B. Note that the form hork, "boy," is used in North Sjaelland and also in Jutland for boy in an opprobrious sense. With this latter use, cf. Scotch hawkie, "clumsy lad." These latter forms may be diminutives of the original stem of B. horra. (28) pibla, pi. of pibel, "small girl," undoubtedly a combination of pi(ga), "girl," and baell, "child," and exactly equivalent to D. Pigebarn, "little girl." A grown girl in B. is pajja (see n. 30). (29) pryl, "cudgel, beating" = D. Prygl. (30) pajja, "grown girl" = D. Pige; Sw. piga, "maid"; in distinction from pibel, "girl-child." (31) aelskadin, "loved him"; D. colloquial: elskede-en (ham). (32) vann, "water" = D. Vand, for ON. vain, Sw. vollen. The form vann is still used in Scandia for vatten. (33) cita, "pail, bucket"; also written kjita; cogn. with Eng. kit, " t u b " and probably also with kettle. Kit in the sense "outfit" is still used in the American slang phrase: whole kit and boodle (caboodle, a cowboy word from Span, capital stock, property). (34) dünte = du inte, thou not. (35) län = lä-in, "let him" = D. lad'en (pron. colloquially la-en = lad ham). (36) Note the direct oration peculiar to primitive idioms.
T H E D A N I S H D I A L E C T OF B O R N H O L M
137
GRAMMATICAL SKETCH ARTICLE AND NOUN
The grammar of B. is much more complicated than that of either Danish or Swedish, the chief reason being that in B. a distinction is made between the masculine and feminine genders, whereas in both Danish and Swedish this distinction has long passed away, the two genders having completely coalesced in Danish and also in all Swedish except the most antiquated style, which, even in church writings, is rapidly going out of use. Thus, it is unusual today to find the masculine e-form of the definite adjective as distinct from the feminine and neuter form. All Swedes say and write at the present day min kara van, "my dear friend" (masc.) instead of the more correct older form kare for masc., while kara was used for feminine and neuter definites. A similar blending of the masculine and feminine genders has all but taken place in modern Dutch, where one says ik zie de man, " I see the man," instead of ik zie den man, and this, in spite of the efforts of the purist school, who are striving to retain the older form, at least in writing. B. is one of the few living Scandinavian idioms, not excepting Icelandic and Faeroese, in which both the definite and indefinite articles distinguish the masculine from the feminine. It is true that in Icelandic and Faeroese a distinction is still made in writing; viz., masc. hinn, fem. hin, "the," but the pronunciation is the same for both genders. B. has both an indefinite and definite article different for all three genders; viz., indefinite in man, "a m a n " ; en kanna, "a woman"; ed huz, "a house," a peculiarity paralleled chiefly in the Juttish of Vensyssel and to some extent on Fyen. In B., the definite article is daen, daen, dedh for the prefixed form, which is, however, not so common as the suffixed definite, whose forms are masc. -n, -in; fem. -n, en; neut. -d, -ed; pi. -na for masc. and fem., and -n, -en for neuters. It will be observed that the masc. sg. is distinguished by the palatal -n.
138
T H E D A N I S H D I A L E C T OF
BORNHOLM
The following paradigm will illustrate the method of using the def. suffixes: Strong Nouns arm, md, da, sag, bro, o, huz, trae Masc. arm in (the arm) moin (the windrow) dan (the day) PI. armana moana dana Fem. sagen (the affair) broen (the bridge) PI. sagarna broarna
on (the island) orna
Neut. huzed (the house) traed (the tree) PI. huzen traen Weak Nouns tlma, barrjara, kange, oga, caerca, farsta(e)lse, ora, aebbla, raeje Masc. tlman (the hour) barrjarin (the citizen) kangin (the king) PI. tlmana barrjarna kangarna Fem. ogan (the week) caercan (the church) farsta(e)lsen (the underPl. ogarna caercarna farsta(e)lsarna [standing) Neut. orad (the ear) PI. orn
aebblad (the apple) aebblen
raejed (the kingdom) raejen
There are certain rules indicating variations of the connecting vowel between the noun and the definite articles, which need not be entered into here. It should be noted, however, that horra or harra, "boy," makes its definite harrin, "the boy"; pi. h&rrana, "the boys," like barrjara (see above). Like ora, "ear," only the neuter ajja, "eye" occurs, pi. ijjen "the eyes," but def. sg. ajjed, "the eye," probably a Danism resembling D. diet, "the eye" (pr. ojedh), for the earlier B. &jjad. It will be observed that in these forms, as well as in the following examples of inflection, B. resembles modern Sw. more than the standard D. This is especially noticeable in the neuters; cf. Sw. dra-t, "the ear," pi. dron-en, in which word there is no distinction in B. between the indef. and def. pi., i. e., both = orn. The same
T H E D A N I S H D I A L E C T OF B O R N H O L M
139
principle applies to the Sw. apple, "apple," pi. applen, but def. pi. iipplena. On the other hand, B. huz, "house," pi. huz; but def. pi. huzen, "the houses," is exactly like the Sw.: hus, pi. hus; def. pi. husen. NOUN INFLECTION
So far as nouns and adjectives are concerned there is no case inflection such as appears in Faeroese or Icelandic, but the system of forming the plural (indef.) of nouns should be briefly illustrated. The resemblance is closest to the Sw., although the B. forms themselves are not directly derived from Sw., but are a normal development of OD. It will be observed from the following examples (a) that the strong and weak masculine groups incline to the pure a-plural, with the exception of a few instances; (¿>) that the strong and weak feminines both incline to the -er (-r)-ending, and (c) that the strong neuters have generally no plural ending, while the weak neuters incline to -», or also have no ending. Strong Nouns Masc. arm (arm) awsel (axle) PI. arma awsla
mo (windrow) da (day) gaest (guest) moa da gaester
Fem. sag (affair) awsel (shoulder) bro (bridge) PI. sager awsler broer Neut. huz (house) PI. huz
trae (tree) trae
o (island) nil (needle) or nala harred (district) harreder
Weak Nouns Masc. tima (hour) barrjara (citizen) PI. tima barrjara
kange (king) kanger
Fem. oga (week) caerca (caerka) (church) farsta(e)lse (understanding) PI. oger caercer (caerker) farsti(e)lser Neut. ora (ear) PI. ora
aebbla (apple) aebbla
raeje (kingdom) raeje
140
T H E D A N I S H D I A L E C T OF
BORNHOLM
The above divisions are easily understood. It will be observed that the class represented by da, " d a y " (masc.) does not change for the plural. It is a model for such words as std, "place" = ON. "stadhr." Only practice can teach the learner when nouns ending in a vowel take the -a in the pi. like md-a. In the strong fem. nouns, the class represented by nil, "needle," is very small. Saen, "bed" (f.) belongs to it, as does aeri, "meadow." The pi. of pibel, "little girl," is pibla, as the second component element is baell, "child," pi. baella. Of the strong neuters, some neuters of foreign origin belong to the harred-class (pi. -er), as best, "beast," pi. bester; insekt, pi. insekler, and so forth. Of the weak masculines, the timaclass represents the old ¿-masculines, as ON. timi, "hour." Many nouns belong to the dga-caerca-d&ss. The weak neuters comprise (a) a small group in -a = the ON. neuters in -a; (b) some neuters in -e = the ON. neuters in i. Note that for ajja, "eye" = ON. auga, one of the few B. nouns inflected like dra, there is an old B. form iva, "eye," pi. iven. J aria, "heart," has pi. jar la. A very large class is inflected like aebble and raeje. The ending u is seen in vinnu, "window" (sg. and pi.) and varru, "business" (cf. Icel. verslun), but B. honnu, "honey," is used only in the sg. = OD. hunugh. ADJECTIVES
The indefinite adjective in B., like that in ON. and modern Icel. and Faeroese, distinguishes between all three genders; viz., masc. goer, "good," fem. go, neut. gatt, pi. goa (all genders) fattier (poor) vlder (wide)
fatti vid
fattit; pi. fattia vitt (vidt); pi. vida
The rule is that the indefinite must end in -er in the masc., the fem. has no ending, while the neuter adds -t which frequently modifies the preceding syllable. The indefinite plural ends in -a for all genders.
T H E D A N I S H D I A L E C T OF B O R N H O L M
141
No such distinction is made in the definite adjectival form followed by the definite noun: Masc. goa ([the] good) Fern. Neut. fattia ([the] poor) vlda ([the] wide)
PI. goe
PI. fattie vide
The definite singular of all genders ends in -a (there is no masc. def. -e, as in old Sw.), while the pi. ending for all genders is -e, a distinctive Bornholmism based on D. -e, def. pi. and sg. Adjectives form their comparative by -ara (more often now -ere, following D.) and the superlative by -ast, def. -esta. Thus brüner, "brown," brünara, brünast; but def., brünesta; pi. brüneste. The same irregularities appear as in the other Scandinavian idioms; länger, "long"—laengre—laenst; göer, "good"—bäere—baest, and so on. The superlative has no differentiation for gender and number in the indefinite, but has both, as just shown, for the definite. NUMERALS
The numerals up to ten cardinals and ordinals are as follows: Masc. Fem. Neut. Danish in en ed en, et (one) to to (two) tré tre (three) flr(a) fire (four) faem fem (five) sajs (six) seks su (seven) syv at(a) (eight) otte ni (nine) ni ti (ten) ti
Danish färsta or fästa (first) först(e) ánra; pi. ándra anden;pi.andre trede tredje fjaere fjerde faemte femte saete sjette suene syvende átene ottende niene niende tiene tiende
I t should be observed that the numerals "fifty" to "ninety," inclusive, are not formed as in Sw. and Norse faemti, seksti, and
142
T H E D A N I S H D I A L E C T OF
BORNHOLM
so on, but as in D., by the addition of hall- and the suffix sensiive; viz., hall-trdsenstive, "fifty," D. halvtredsindstyve, and so on. This method of reckoning is peculiarly Danish, and resembles the Celtic system, still used in Welsh, and appearing in French. PRONOUNS
B. ja mSj
E. I me
D.
Sw. B. han jeg jag hannom mig mig (pr- maj) (pr. mej) hon vi vi haene
vl, vi we v&s us OS i, ni i you jaerr, jarr you (acc.) jer
E. he him she her
D. Sw. han han ham honom hun hon hende henne.
OSS
i Eder(er)
di
dam
they de de them dem dem
The possessives are respectively min, min, met, " m y " ; pi. mina; diH, din, det; pi. dina; refl. sin, sin, set; pi. sina, declined like indef. adjectives; hans "his"; haenes, "her," indecl.; var (vares and rare, v&resa), neut. vart] pi. vira; jaer, neut. jaert, "your"; pi. jaera, declined like adjectives, and darre, "their," indecl. The relatives are simply the indeclinable daer (nom. only) and s&m, "who, which, what." The interr. is vekkin, vekken, vekked; pi. vekkene, a pronominal indef. adjective. VERBS
The B. verb, like that of the other Scandinavian dialects, has only two pure tenses; viz., the present and preterit, making the future and past definite by means of auxiliaries. B., unlike D., distinguishes between the singular and plural of the present tense by omitting the -r of the singular and in most instances by using -a in the plural. In the preterit, as in Sw., B. sometimes has a distinctive plural form, which, as in colloquial Sw., is dying out in ordinary usage. The following examples of both strong and weak verbs will suffice to show the formation: a bina, "to b i n d " ) j a biner, "I bind";
T H E D A N I S H D I A L E C T OF B O R N H O L M
143
vi bina, "we bind"; jd bant, "I bound," vi bone, "we bound";ja hdr boned, "I have bound" = D. at binde, jeg binder, vi binder, jeg bandt, vi bandt; jeg har bundet; Sw. alt binda, jag binder, vi binda; jag band, vi bundum; jag har bundit. Ablaut is as common in B. as in its sister idioms; thus, ger, "gives"; gd, "gave," but ged, "given"; Jar, "drives"; for, "drove"; fored, "driven," etc. The verb "to go" requires special mention; a ga, "to go"; jd gar, vi ga; jd giCC, vi gecce; jd e gad. In Gudhjem, this verb still has the half weak form ganna; ginnar, gariria; gannada; gangin. The weak verbs form the preterit by -de, -t and the past participle by masc. -der; fem. -d, neut. -t, which neuter form is used with the auxiliary ha, "have," to form the pure past definite. Thus, & ria, "to ride";jd rier, vi ria; jd, vi ride ("rode");ja hdr rit; & taella, "to count"; jd taeller, vi taella; jd, vi talde, jd hdr talt; a vila, "to rest";7a viler, vi vila; jd, vi vilada; jd hdr vilad. The auxiliaries are konna, "to be able"; jd kaH, "I can"; vi kotie, "we can"; ja, vi konne, "we could"; jd hdr konriad; ja ska, "I shall"; skol'l'e, "should"; past participle skolad; veVVa, "to will"; javel, pi. vi vella;jd, vivel'Va, "would" •Jaharvellad, "I have wished." The verb "to have" is d hdva, jd hdr, vi ha, ja, vi hade, ja hdr had. The middle passive in -5 appears, as in D. and Sw., as saettas, "to be put," and the -s is suffixed to all the tenses, including the past participle salts. The direct use of the -s has disappeared in D. with the past participle, where the -s is suffixed as a rule to the preterit -de and the tense construed with the verb vaere, "to be" as del er lykkedes; but Sw. del har lyckats, "it has succeeded." Finally, the following forms should be noted: gak, imper. of ga, "go"; estu, "art thou"; vastu, "wert thou"; sastu, "sawest thou"; tdwstu, "tookst thou," and so forth. The old gerundive in -s also occurs in B. drikkenes = D. drikkende, "drinking," and so forth. MUSIC
The Bornholmers have preserved a wealth of folk songs, many of them of real value and excelling those of any part of Denmark
144
T H E D A N I S H D I A L E C T OF B O R N H O L M
in beauty, although none of the D. folk songs are equal to the Sw. in pure melody and musical form. The Danes have of late years begun to discard their old folk-music for modern European productions and, in their desire not to be "Scandinavian," are inclined to look upon anything essentially old Danish as "vulgar" and belonging to the "servant" classes. This, however, is not the case on Bornholm, where a genuine pride is felt in the old airs. The melody12 of the song recorded above (II) is a very characteristic Bornholm air. The old Scandinavian influence lingers in the musical phraseology, a phenomenon which is apparent in many of the island songs, where, of course, the Scandian influence predominates, although some few of the refrain-songs show German contact. u
Vtser i Bornholmsk Mundarl, p. 134, n. 7.
A TEXT
IN J E R S E Y
DUTCH1
T
H E FOLLOWING phonetic rendering of the Jersey Dutch version of the "Parable of the Prodigal Son" was taken down by me from Mr. Matthew Hicks (aetat. 77) of Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, on July 2, 1913. Mr. Hicks is one of the few survivors of the old Jersey Dutch settlers in the northern part of Bergen County who can still talk this dialect fluently. He informs me that there is only one other old man, Mr. Valentine of the neighboring village of Ramsey, with whom he is able to converse at length in his mother tongue. Owing to the distance and lack of means of transportation, these two aged men but seldom see each other, and the language in this section, therefore, lives only in their memories, except when they chance to meet, or when they get an opportunity to converse with the present writer. This dialect, léx dauts or "low Dutch," is still known, with more or less thoroughness, to over a hundred persons, but these are so scattered that they but rarely find anyone to converse with. The younger generation has lost the language and few young people care to try to learn the idiom of their grandparents. Fifty years ago, however, this was the common vernacular over most of Bergen County and in many places in the adjoining county of Passaic. The intonation of this idiom is so different to that of the modern Holland Dutch that Netherlanders cannot follow a conversation in Jersey Dutch without previously learning the peculiarities of the dialect, or without some knowledge of English, with which the Jersey Dutch is plentifully interspersed (Prince, " T h e Jersey Dutch Dialect," Dialect Notes, I I I , 459-484. 1 Reprinted from Overgedr. uit hel Tijdschr. v. Ncderlandsche X X X I I (1913), 306-312.
Taal-en-Letlerkunde,
146
A T E X T IN J E R S E Y
DUTCH
In presenting the "Prodigal Son," I have used the following system of notation: a: u in "pull." d: a in "father." a: a deep close aw as in "awful," but more constricted. d: a vowel commonly heard in the English of north Jersey today; between a in " h a t " and e in "met." da: a prolongation of the above; very flat. di: d + i, as in "like." äu: the nasalized American ou in "house." e: ay in "may." Not the N. ee. e: a short indeterminate vowel, uttered with the mouth half closed. ): the Schwund; shorter than e. i: as in "hit." I: contracted Eng. ee. o: very short Eng. aw. o: long o. ou: as owe, with indeterminate e. ö: German ö. 5: long German ö. ü: N. oe. u: ü: ü: g: r: x: xj:
Eng. oo in "foot." German ü. prolonged German ü. the deep guttural N. g. the ordinary American "burred" r. a soft guttural as in German Bach, the above, palatalized.
I have given the Holland Dutch equivalent of every Jersey Dutch word in the following text, without attempting to change the Holland Dutch sentence construction into the correct form. The abbreviations JD. and N. stand for "Jersey Dutch" and "Netherland Dutch," respectively.
A T E X T
IN
J E R S E Y
D E V'LÖRENE
D U T C H
147
ZÖN
DE VERLOREN ZOON THE PRODIGAL SON JD. N.
I.
En
kääd'l h a d
twi
jongers; d e e n e
Een
man
had twee jongens; de eene
A
man
had two
sons;
blev2
täus;
de
bleef
t'huis;
de
the one stayed at h o m e ; the
andere
xöng
vört
f'n
häus
f'r e n
andere
ging
voort
van
huis
voor een
vermögen,
stilt.'
other
went
abroad
from
home
to m a k e h i s
fortune.
Häi
wäz4
nit
tevréde
täus
en
dárkls 6
tú»
Hij He
was
niet
tevreden
t'huis
en
daardoor
toen
was
not
content
at home
and
therefore
then
räkni 7
arm.
raakte
arm.
h e b e c a m e poor. JD. N.
II. Hai Hij He
J
dogti8
6m
dät
täus
en
z'n' väders
pläk.
dacht
aan
dat
t'huis
en
zijn
plaats
thought about
it
at h o m e and his
vaders father's
place.
blev; cf. n. 27. ' stdl = N. siaat, "rank, quality"; here the sense is "make his fortune." [Wij zouden zeggen: om een zelfstandige positie te krijgen.J 4 was with -z; but n. 22 with -j. [Zonderling dat de s voor een klinker, n. 22, stemloos blijft, en voor een medeklinker, n. 33, stemhebbend wordt; vgl. n. 1 en 25.) s därkis Hicks explains as "afterwards," but this probably stands for daar + keus, a JD. form for "therefore" = "because of that," keus being wrongly used in the sense "cause." "Afterwards" is correctly given as nädät in n. 18. [därkis zal wel een cont a m i n a t e zijn van daar en Eng. cause uit because.! 'tü = N . toe(n), "then"; passim in J D . 7 r&kni = N. raken; really the 3 p. pi. pres. -f- the factitious -e(i) of the past in this instance; cf. dogti = N. dacht, n. 8. Note Infin. -e, n. 10 and cf. n. 13. [De n in rakni3 en muten'm1' houd ik voor de n die in Holl, uitdrukkingen als raakte-n-ie, ontmoeiten-'m het hiaat wegneemt. Ook in den (cf. 26, 32) voor dee(d) zie ik zulk een vastgeworden, het Imperfectum kenmerkende n. Hierdoor wordt nu ook duidelik een uitdrukking als äk hädne äbel le wize für dät te dune (I should have been able to do that), door de heer Prince in zijn Studie over het Jersey Dutch (biz. 466) terecht zonderling genoemd: hädne Staat voor had, en het Imperfectum drukt de Conditionalis uit.) ! dogti; cf. n. 7 and the deep guttural g, instead of the usual J D . x. [De Engelse vertaling lijkt mij hier niet juist; zou niet beter zijn: he thought about that (his) home?) • z'n =• N. zijn, but note h'm = hem in the possessive sense, n. IS; cf. n. 31.
A TEXT
148
IN J E R S E Y
DUTCH
Tu zaide: ak zal na haus xane. 10 Toen zei hij: ik zal na huis gaan. Then said: I shall go home.
Main vader hat Mijn vader heeft M y father has
planti. 11 overvloed. plenty. JD. III. N.
En En And
tu de väder zäg'm komme, häi xöng12 äut toen de vader zag hem komen, hij ging uit when the father saw him coming, he went out
en müten'm" en boste14 z'n om hem te ontmoeten en zoende zijn' and met him and kissed his
zon zoon son
en en and
tü toen then
brogt'm in h'm 15 häus. bracht hij hem in zijn huis. brought him into his house. JD. N.
IV.
TQ zaide te de kaad'l, de xjehurde hant :16 nau Toen zei hij tegen de man, de huurling: nu Then said to the man, the "hired hand": now xän en släxt het' 7 käl'v en tu nä dät 18 xän ga en slacht het kalf en toen na dat ga go and kill the calf and then afterwards go
en en and
nod de bure en komme met main 19 en wai zal20 nood de buren en kom met mij en wij zullen invite the neighbors and come with me and we shall xdne; note -e in the Infin. here; cf. Prince, op. til. p. 466, and above n. 7. planti = Eng. plenty. 11 hai xdng. Note absence of inversion; it should be xong hai. The correct inversion is observed, n. 24. " mUten'm; really 3 p. pi. pres. (cf. n. 7 and see dbi, n. 26). 14 [Van Eng. buss, kus.] 15 h'm haus; cf. n. 9. 16 American patois: "the hired hand" = "hired man." 17 Note the correct neuter hel, unusual in J D . 18 Cf. n. 5. " met main; cf. for main i n VI. 20 wii zal; verb here in the singular, but n. 24: tale wai in plural. 10 11
A TEXT
IN JERSEY
149
DUTCH
näu en fist 21 häbbe. nu een feest hebben. now have a feast. JD. N.
V. Main zon wät v'lore was22 äs näu om 23 täus. Mijn zoon die verloren was is nu weer(om) t'huis. My son who was lost is now again at home. Näu Nu Now
JD. N.
VI.
zäle24 zullen
wäi en xüje dankbar täit häbbe. wij een goeden dankbaren tijd hebbenz. we shall have a good thankful time.
Tu de äuster 25 zon zäid: je den26 nit zö for Toen de oudste zoon zeide: je deedt niet zoo voor Then the oldest son said: you did not so for main. mij. me.
Äk blef 27 täus bäi jäu en jäi nout mäkte Ik bleef t'huis bij jou en je nooit maakte I stayed home with you and you never made
xin28 super 29 för geen souper voor any supper for
mäin en mij en me and
doze xöng deze ging this one went
vort voort away
en en and
spanderde 30 al z'n 31 xält. verkwistte al zijn geld, wasted all his money. J D . VII. Näu kommt häi om ärm. Näu mäkt je en fist — N. Nu komt hij weer arm. Nu maak je een feest— Now he comes back poor. Now you make a feast— n
a Jist = N .feest, under the influence of Eng. "feast." was with -e; cf. n. 4. 24 dm, "again"; used here for N . weer. zäle wäi; inversion correct; n. 12; 20. 24 I distinctly heard r in duster. [Deze r is te verklaren uit Eng. elder, liever dan uit Nederl. andere.} 28 den = N . deed; 3 p. pi. used for singular; cf. n. 13. |Zie het bij n. 7 aangetekende.] 27 blef with -/, but distinctly blev in n. 2. 28 N o t e the double negative nout—xin = N . nooit—gecn. 29 super — Eng. "supper." so spanderde = Eng. "spend" + N . formative -eren. [Spanderen, een algemeen gebruikelik Hollands woord; over de herkomst zie Franck—van Wijk.] 31 z'n = N . zijn; cf. n. 9. 23
150
A T E X T
IN
JERSEY
DUTCH
en x'-rote super — for hom, dat jai nout d£n K een groot souper — voor hem, dat je nooit deedt a great supper — for him, which you never did for main, voor mij. for me. J D . VIII. Tu de vader zai: ak ban blait; ak ban dankbir Toen de vader zeide: ik ben blijde; ik ben dankbaar Then the father said: I am glad; I am thankful dat main zon nox left en az33 taus in xjezonthait. dat mijn zoon noch leeft en is t'huis in gezondheid. that my son still lives and is at home in health. a
Cf. ns. 7, 26.
» Cf. ns. 4, 22.
A BRAZILIAN
GYPSEY
DIALECT1
BAND of some forty Gypsies, all bom in the southern states of North America, recently came to Belgrade, professedly to buy wives for their sons from the local Roms. These people were almost immediately arrested by the Yugoslav authorities on suspicion of intention of white slavery. As they all bore American passports, this Legation was compelled to investigate the case, and after eighteen days of parley was able to get release of the three chiefs of the clan, on condition that the local girls should be restored to their families and that the American band should leave the country as soon as possible, which they were glad to do, in order to return to South Africa, whence they had come to this kingdom. On questioning them, I found that the origin of the tribe was in Brazil, but back of this they could not go. The chief man, George Montes, and his son John, were the most intelligent of the group, and they gave me specimens of their language, which is well developed. Although they professed to know nothing of Rumania, it was evident at the first glance that the idiom is a modification of the Rumanian Gypsey dialect, with some Greek and a little Spanish Gypsey admixture. They spoke this language among themselves and tried it not very successfully on the Serb Gypsies, as the dialects are very different. They said they had found a group of Gypsies who spoke almost like themselves—these were Rumanian Roms settled in the Voivodina in this state and it was from them they bought the girls alluded to. They spoke English 1
Reprinted from Journal of the American Oriental Society, L (1929), 139-143. I have used the following abbreviations: BR. = Bulgarian Gypsey; CR. = Continental Gypsey; ER. = English Rommany; SR. = Spanish Gypsey; RR. = Rumanian Gypsey; WR. = Welsh Rommany.
152
A BRAZILIAN
GYPSEY
DIALECT
with some difficulty, Portuguese very well, and a little Boer Dutch, as they claimed to have been wandering in South Africa for some years, where they had been trading in diamonds, in which business they had made—they asserted—some twenty thousand dollars, all of which they had with them in cash. I used Continental Romany and Spanish in speaking to them, and some English. T h e following specimens of their language may be of interest, especially as the idiom of the Rumanian Gypsies is rapidly becoming extinct, which is not the case with the Serb Gypsey dialect. NARRATIVE
Aîriljém man andé Srbija, de là mande dili boriâ I came into Serbia to get for myself two daughters-in-law (and) peandurjû
mûrlo
lavén.
Ai
le(m)
mande
diii
boriâ
sukâr,
marry them to my sons. And I got for myself two beautiful kai dem pe lende delejta-mi
dinar.
daughters-in-law, when I gave for them seventeen thousand dinars. Tai
liné-li
pâlpali
tai e krîs pandadjâ-mo
and i hâbza.
And they took them away and the police shut us up in the prison. Bezljém deSôkta divés lai papuljém i boriâ.
Tai
W e sat eighteen days and gave back the daughters-in-law. And mi le lové khasardêm. Akanâ teljarâs andâ i Srbija; we lost the money. Now we are departing from Serbia (because) ii mekûla-mi e krîs
andé Srbija.
not allows us the police (to remain) in Serbia. PHRASES
dobôj tu\ Good morning; good day! sâr mai sân adjés? How are you today? so kéres lu, roméa? What are you doing, Gypsey?—How do you do? ai sôdi lavoré se tu? And how many children have you? deS dûma romanes? Can you speak Gypsey?
A BRAZILIAN
GYPSEY
DIALECT
153
kana me dao duma romanes, sa le roma haljaren so me moldoWhen I speak Gypsey, all the Gypsies understand what I am saying. kako manus se baro rat. This man is a great gentleman. kaca gait se bari raji. This woman is a great lady. COMMENTARY NARRATIVE
aviljem man: lit. " I came for myself"—man for the reflexive dative peske, not used in this dialect; aviljem, sometimes written, avljam, is R R . for the usual C R . viom, " I came." Cf. SR. abilldr, " t o come." The form may have been influenced in Brazil by contact with peninsular Roms. ande: R R . for C R . andro, "in, into." Srbija: with the Greek accent on penultimate; it should be Sfbija; de la = te lao (CR. Idba), "that I get." The t in this word was unaspirated. mande: full dat. In C R . = mange; should be here peske reflexive. bori: "daughter-in-law," umlaut in diii—usually
is good Turkish R. also. Note the
dui.
peandurju: a combination, I think, of pe "for," and
pandurju
"bind, marry," here for pandurjao, first pers. sing. Cf. T R . pandrevava, " I marry." All C. Gypsies say: pandaohudar, "shut the door," and so forth = E R . pander the wuder. murlo: clearly a wrong pronunciation for R R . munro, " m y "
=
C R . miro, mro. In connection with the following dative plural, this should be munre. Savin: for savende ( = dat. pi.), "to (my) children." Note Mvo "son," for the usual C R . cavo. ai: real R R . for " a n d " ; in C R . ta, tai (see below). le(m) mande = " I got for m e " ; C R . liom peske. boria sukar: in C R . adjectives precede nouns—sukar boria. This is clearly Rumanian or Portuguese influence.
154
A BRAZILIAN GYPSEY
DIALECT
kai dem pe lênde: kai when = really "where," but with meaning "and"; probably influence of Greek kai; dem "I gave" = CR. diom; pe "for" with dative. deUjta-mi dinar: mi "thousand," from Rumanian mia. Note sing, with numerals. CR. hazâr, "thousand"; a pure Persian form. tai liné-li-pâlpali: tai (see above); liné = CR. lijén, "they took"; -li suffixed pronom, accus. = "them"; palpali = WR. papale— ER. pâli, all from Gk. pâlin. tai e kris pandadjâ-mo nad i hâbza: I cannot account for kris "police," unless to suppose it a slovenly corruption for Rom. polîtie; pandadjâ-mo, for pandadjân-ma, "shut us up." See above peandurjii. Hâbza is Arabic-Turkish for "prison." These people did not know ER. stâripen, stâruben, "prison," whence American slang stir = "prison." bezljém: "we sat"—curious; for besljem. papuljém: should be pâlpuljém, "we left behind" (see above sub palpali). In this phrase le boriâ, le is the article. Cf. below le lové, le româ. khasardém: "we lost"—a stem seen in CR. akanâ, "now": for akakanâ, lit. "this now"; leljarâva = " I go away"; andâ, lit. "from in" (a place); = CR. andrâl. ci mekûla-li e kris: "not allows us the police"; ci for "not"; cf. cici, " n o t h i n g , " in C R . a n d E R ; mektila, in C R . mukéla,
"lets,
leaves"; -mi is strictly "me," not "us," which would be -ma(-7no), see above. My narrator was quite uncertain about his final pronouns, often using the singular for the plural.
PHRASES
dobój tu: for tuke, "to you"; I cannot derive dobój, the first element of which appears to contain the Slavic dob- of dobar "good." sar mai san: "how are you?" Cf. ER. sârshan; also CR. The element mai must be the Rum. mai, "indeed, hey there"! roméa: " 0 Gypsey"—note the voc. of Rom. = êa.
A BRAZILIAN GYPSEY
DIALECT
155
ai sodi lavore se tu? "How many" here is sodi(?), perhaps the same element seen in Magyar micsoda, "what?" The CR. word is usually kice, WR. kisi. Note the diminutive ending -ore, pi. of -oro, common to all CR; se tu = CR. shan tuke, "are to you." del duma: "you give speech"; del = CR. das a, desa; duma is the Slavic duma, "council." My narrator pronounced this del for des, which is clearly wrong; halyaren, "they understand"; cf. WR. hater-; so me motdo, "what I say"; my narrator did not know pendo{-dva), "I say." This mot- is clearly from Magyar mond-ani, "to say." Kako-kaca: "this," masc. and fem. seem peculiar to this dialect, as the usual RR. forms are koda- koda. Note the form rajt, "lady," for the usual rani in all CR. and in ER. rani. Besides the above material, my informants gave me the following words: angdra: "coal," well known in all R. anrd: "egg," occurring in various forms, and in ER as yora. The n in anro was strongly nasal. bakro: "sheep," common R.—ER. bokro. bald: "pig," well known in all R. bufairi: "book," an interesting word, clearly equivalent to the SR. bufaire, meaning "a legal summons." I cannot hazard a guess as to its derivation. citao: " I read," pure Slavic; Serbian litati; Russian citatj. gurumi: "cow" = guruvni in CR. and ER. javer: "other, different"; tu cip se javer od munrd, "your language is different from mine." Cf. CR. aver, vaver and ER. wavver. kakavi: "kettle," universal R. kani: "hen," universal R. nai: "it is not," CR. and WR. rakli: "a non-Rommany girl," universal R. ramdo: "I write," a curious word, possibly a slovenly half remembered corruption of Greek, grafo, where g is heavily guttural.
156
A BRAZILIAN
GYPSEY
DIALECT
The m in ramao was pronounced very indistinctly. The usual C R . word for write is cinava, " I cut." $e: "Gypsey girl," in C R . and E R . cat, for cavi. tdgar: "king," they knew this word, but said it was not their own. It is, in fact, B. R. thagar, with aspirated t. umpratur:
"king"—their own word; probably an association
between Rumanian imperador and Portuguese emperador.
N O T E S ON T H E EASTERN
LANGUAGE
ALGONKIN
OF
THE
TRIBES1
U R P R I S I N G L Y little attention has been given by linguists to the Indian languages of this country, compared with the wide range of their investigations in other directions. Not only is this true with regard to the languages of the Indians, but also with regard to their history. Very few either know anything of or evince any interest in the peculiarities of our tribes, and this is the more to be regretted because with the last Indian the last hope of investigation will perish, for these people keep no records and have no desire to leave any traces behind them. The sole remnants of the great Wabanaki Nation, which have been allowed to linger about their former habitations, are the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes of Maine, the Malisits and Micmacs of New Brunswick, and the Abenakis or St. Francis Indians of Lower Canada. All these Indians speak closely allied dialects, which, although bearing a general resemblance to one another in construction, are often very different in the individual words. As an illustration of the similarity and differentiation of these dialects, I give below a list of the numerals up to ten, in three of the idioms: Passamaquoddy
neqt (besq) taboo (neswuk) sist (nowuk) neu nan 1
Abenaki
pazekw nis nas iaw nolan (nonnoak)
Micmac
naookt taaboo slst neu nan
Thesis for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, Columbia College, 1888; reprinted from the American Journal of Philology, IX (1888), 310-316.
158 L A N G U A G E O F T H E E A S T E R N Passamaquoddy
kamachin l'wignuk ogmulchin esq'nadek m'tien
Abenaki
agùedoz tobawoz nsôzek nolïwi m'dala
ALGONKINS
Micmac
yusookom eloowignuk ogumulchin peskoonadek 'mtuln
The Abenakis, whose dialect appears in the table to be the most distinct, have rarely, if ever, any intercourse with the remaining Wabanaki, and, as they live surrounded by alien tribes, one cannot wonder that their language has departed somewhat from its original form. I have been told, however, by Abenakis, that the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot dialects are intelligible to them when spoken very slowly, and I have also heard Passamaquoddies state that they could scarcely understand Micmac at all, as the intonation of the language is entirely different. This is not surprising, for although the Micmacs live comparatively near the others, they are very conservative and never mingle. The three tribes, whose dialects are so closely allied as hardly to deserve the name of separate languages, are the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, and Malisit. This is easy to account for, as the Malisits are on most friendly terms with the other two, and are quite frequently to be found in Bar Harbor, selling baskets and trading very amicably along with them. As these dialects are radically the same, the phonology and grammar are, of course, identical in all of them, for although the forms of words have differentiated, yet the sounds have remained almost unaltered and only in a very few cases have the grammatical forms changed. Therefore we may take it for granted that whatever general principle or characteristic might be alleged of one of these languages is perfectly applicable to the others. The Passamaquoddy and Abenaki dialects are those which I have made the most use of, as they are excellent specimens to illustrate the character of the entire group. The vowel sounds are very unclear and indistinct; indeed it is
LANGUAGE
OF T H E E A S T E R N
ALGONKINS
159
often difficult to distinguish them, for the Indians speak with the mouth half open and seldom loudly. A, e, i, o, u (continental pronunciation) are usually easy to recognize, but there are many sounds whose exact character is very difficult to discover. The first which we shall notice is the diphthong which I have written aew. This conveys little idea of its exact pronunciation, but is the nearest approach to the sound which a combination of letters can reach. If the vowels e + u be pronounced very rapidly, giving to each the same value, some idea of the sound can be obtained. The pronunciation of the Old English diphthong aew (cf. scew = sea) must have approached this very closely. A somewhat similar sound may be heard when our exclamation ohl is uttered sarcastically from one side of the mouth. L, m, and n are semivowels, as in some of the Slavonic languages, containing a sound like a short, thick u. This is the case in all the dialects of this group, but the sound is often written with an e, u and even an i, by those who have not recognized its true character. Thus, in the table of numerals cited above, the Passamaquoddy I'wig'nuk
(7) is often wrongly written
ul'wig'nuk.
Nothing is so deceptive as the thick guttural utterance of an Indian, and I have frequently spelled the same word in two or three ways as the sound impressed itself differently on my ear. It is often the case in Indian languages that exactly the same combination of sounds will be heard and interpreted differently by different individuals. There is an indistinct vowel sound which resembles a very short ii; it is heard generally after the guttural g, and may be expressed by an apostrophe: g'. In the numeral Vwig'nuk
it is
heard very plainly between the g and the n, and also, but not so distinctly, between the I and the w. It is not unlike the Hebrew vowel sh'va in the word Tj"T]t where a short vowel is heard between ] and 1 . When an Indian is speaking, however, he slurs this sound to such a degree that it was not until after one week of careful observation that I even discovered its existence.
160
LANGUAGE
OF T H E
EASTERN
ALGONKINS
Last, but by no means least of these peculiar vowel sounds is the initial whistle or wh\ which, to be thoroughly understood, must be heard from the lips of an Indian. I t is produced by a forcible expulsion of the breath through the lips, which must be rounded as if to pronounce vowel o. This makes a sound as if the speaker had begun to whistle but had suddenly ceased. Whether this utterance may be classified as a pure vowel or not is a question of some doubt, for it certainly partakes of the nature of the consonantal w. Among the consonants the explosives p, t, and k require particular notice. In English, and in fact in most European languages, whenever an explosive is uttered, a gentle breathing is inserted between the consonant and the succeeding vowel. In the Indian dialects the explosive is pronounced with absolutely no breathing, so that it is often impossible to distinguish between a k, and a g, or between a p and a b; thus gad and kat represent the same sound. The indistinctness of pronunciation, therefore, is not at all confined to the vowels, for these peculiar voiceless consonants produce a most puzzling effect on the hearer, and render the sound of the language metallic and monotonous to the last degree. 77/, /, and r are wanting. One of the most remarkable sounds imaginable is the guttural -q or -kw. This occurs only at the end of syllables and is very soft in utterance; so much so as to be often almost inaudible. It is formed by beginning a q and stopping suddenly before the following «-vowel is entirely pronounced. Many express it by kw, and equally well, but as the sound is undoubtedly a single consonant, it seems more logical to express it by a single symbol. The accentuation of these dialects is not well marked, for the tendency in speaking is to drawl the sentences in a monotone, giving much the same value to every syllable. At the end of sentences the voice is allowed to fall, not, however, as in European languages, but more as if all the wind were expelled from the lungs and the speaker were forced to stop through exhaustion. Although in conversation the accentuation is monotonous, yet in the songs
L A N G U A G E OF T H E E A S T E R N A L G O N K I N S
161
and rhymes, more particularly in the magic formulae, it is of the highest importance to intone correctly. In fact, the virtue of the charm depends frequently on the way it is said. The variations of some of these songs are so very difficult that it is impossible for a white man ever to learn them exactly. Sometimes even in conversation the position of voice stress affects the meaning; cf. kiskes igdn = how many years? — but kiskes igdn = how old? Very subtle distinctions in accent are observed in speech making; in fact it is by such means that the orator produces an effect or renders his meaning more emphatic. The Indian languages are apparently very irregular in character, but, after a careful examination of the grammatical structure, much of the seeming difficulty vanishes. Throughout the entire inflectional system a distinction is made between animate and inanimate objects; in fact this may be said to be one of the ground principles of the language. There are separate forms in the substantive, adjective, and verb for these two classes, yet actual gender is not recognized. The pronominal prefixes remain the same whether before substantives or verbs; thus n'mitauks = my father, or n'mitzi = I eat. n' is the universal sign of the first person, while k' and w' represent the second and third persons. To distinguish between the singular and plural, the substantives have one set of endings and the verbs another; thus n'mitaukson = our father, while n'dupultiben = we sit, from n'dup = I sit. In the first person plural a distinction is made according to whether all those addressed are included or not; thus n'mitaukson = our father (exclusive), i. e., the father of two or more of us, but k'mitaukson = our father (inclusive), viz., the father of all of us. This idea is carried throughout the entire inflection. Substantives may be transformed to verbs and carried through all the intricacies of the conjugation. Thus from n'kaozem = my cow, we have the verb n'okaozemi = I have a cow. In the same way adjectives may be used verbally. Almost any idea whatever, no matter how subtle, may be expressed by an Indian verb, for the extremely ductile
162
LANGUAGE
OF T H E E A S T E R N
ALGONKINS
character of the language admits of a myriad of forms. T h e numerals are copiously inflected according to the idea they convey; thus we have pazeq = one, papazego = one by one, pazgueda = once, papazgueda = once each time, nitamabit — first, b u t nilamagimguak = first, if used to mark the order of chapters, verses, and so forth. The cardinal numbers also have two forms, a substantival and an adjectival; tabu = two, but nez-amk = two in the adjectival sense, as nezwuk skitapyik = two men. To illustrate the similarity of inflection in the various dialects, I give the following table of examples in the Passamaquoddy, Abenaki, and Micmac languages: Passamaquoddy nmitauks "my father"
w'mitauksl "his, her father" n'mitauksn "our father" (exclusive) k'mitauksn "our father" (inclusive) k'mitauksl "your father" w'mitauksl "their father" n'dup "I sit" k'dup "thou sittest"
Abenaki n'mitogwes "my father" k'mitogwes "thy father" w'mitoqsa "his father" n'mitoqsena "our father" (exclusive) k'mitoqsena "our father" (inclusive) k'mitoqsowo "your father" w'mitoqsowo "their father" n'wajono "I have" k'wajono "thou hast"
ubo "he, she sits"
wajona "he, she has"
k'dupultibin "we sit" (exclusive) k'dupibin "we sit" (inelusive) ubultu-uk "they sit"
n'wajonobena "we have" (exclusive) k'wajonobena "we have" (inclusive) wajonak "they have"
k'mitauks "thy father"
Micmac neloo "my food" keloo "thy food" weloo "his, her food" na-oochit "our father" (exclusive) kesolq "our creator" (inclusive) ukwisl "your son" weloo-ul "their food" saukawei" I am quiet" saukewein "thou art quiet" saukeweek "he, she is quiet" saukewoltiq "we are quiet" (exclusive) saukewoltik "we are quiet" (inclusive) saukewoltijik "they are quiet"
L A N G U A G E OF T H E E A S T E R N A L G O N K I N S
163
It will be seen from this table that the Micmac dialect has differentiated most in grammatic form. It has kept the prenominal prefixes in the inflection of the substantive, yet in the conjugation of the verb they have fallen away and been replaced by endings. This fact may be due to the influence of the Esquimaux, as the Micmacs had at one time considerable intercourse with that people, and some effect must have been thus produced on the language, isolated from their kindred as they were, both by geographical position and by ceaseless feuds. Indian words are often small sentences in themselves; thus n'wenockwas-queiss = I row. This contains the Penobscot wenoch, a white man and, taken as a verb with the first personal prefix «', signifies I paddle (a boat) like a white man. The character of these languages is most favorable to word-formation, and their peculiarity of retaining only the elements and rejecting all superfluous parts renders it possible to have a sentence of considerable length melted together into one word. By means of this formative power of his language, the Indian can express any idea, no matter how abstruse, and indeed he often expresses very simple things in a rather abstruse way. Thus, wik-peq-higen = a pump; the elements of this are the root urik-peq from n'wiksan or n'wikpeq = I draw or pull, and higen, which is a substantive ending, the whole word meaning something which one pulls, or briefly, a pump. In this case the idea of pulling, connected with a pump, seized the Indian mind, and therefore the above word was made to express this object, although it might with equal appropriateness have been called a "water-giver" or a "pipe from which to drink," and so forth. The word for book, urig-higen, is another instance of this peculiar formative system. The stem \ / wig means to cut or to scratch, and when the Indians became acquainted with the art of writing, and perceived that it was done by means of a sharp instrument, this root received the additional meaning "to write." Wighigen therefore signifies something which is written, i. e., a letter or a book. From this noun comes the compound wighig'nup, which
164
L A N G U A G E OF T H E E A S T E R N
ALGONKINS
means book-water, a rather quaint metaphor for ink. As an illustration of how a single root appears in a number of words of allied meaning, compare the following: pes-yantesuk "a window" pes-saukhenmagen "a lamp" pes-zezen "a star" n'p'saq "I shine"
Vpes "light"
The verb n'pesatun, I smell, undoubtedly contains wilon = a nose. An analysis of an ordinary verb into its elements will give an excellent idea of this Indian method of word-building. Nolidhas means " I am glad." This contains: pronominal prefix of the first person, wole, good, excellent, and klidahas, the verb "to think." The w\ which is always unstable in these dialects, is rejected. For another instance of this, cf. wigwus, mother, but nigwus, my mother. The k in klidahas is forced out by the predominance of the two l's in 'ole and 'lidahas. I t might here be stated that the Indian I is very marked, and has a thick dull sound which is seldom heard in European languages. Two /'s, therefore, literally drown out the k. This gives the form nolidhas, " I think well, I am in a good state of mind, I am glad." Such then, briefly considered, are the chief points of interest in the language of the Wabanaki. As far as I could discover, very little attention has ever been given to these tribes beyond the mere compiling of a comparative dictionary by Father Vetromile. No thorough grammatical treatise seems ever to have been written, and therefore it was solely from the mouths of the Indians in Bar Harbor and Canada that I gathered the above information. If able linguists were to examine with care the word-formation of some of these dialects, considerable light might be thrown on the entire group of American tongues, and perhaps nowhere on our continent can a better example of the general character of Indian languages be found than in these races of the Algonkin Indians.
SOME
FORGOTTEN
NAMES
IN
THE
INDIAN
PLACE
ADIRONDACKS1
T
H E MOUNTAINOUS district known as the Adirondack*, comprising parts of Lewis, Herkimer, Fulton, Hamilton, St. Lawrence, Franklin, Clinton, Essex, and Warren Counties in northern New York State, takes its name from a wellknown Mohawk word, r&tirontdks, "they eat trees" or "those who eat trees" (masc. plur.). This term is in regular use at the present day among the Mohawks at Caughnawauga, P. Q., and elsewhere, to denote the so-called "Algonquin" 2 tribe who formerly had their headquarters at Oka (Lac des Deux Montagnes), not far from Montreal, but who are now, with the exception of a few families still resident at Oka, scattered throughout the whole of eastern Canada. These Algonquins, who are really a branch of the Ojibwe-Ottawa division of the Algic family, were wont in former days to hunt extensively in the Adirondack region, which was accordingly named after them by the Mohawk-Iroquois, who also ranged through the same territory. The term Ratirdnt&ks, "tree" or "wood eaters," as applied to this sept, simply indicates that the Algonquins, like the rest of 1
Reprinted from the Journal of American Folk-Lore (1900), pp. 123-128. For the language of the "Algonquins," cf. J. A. Cuoq, Lexique de la langue aigonquine, Montreal, 1886; "Grammaire de la langue algonquine," in Memoires S. R. Canada, 1891. The Rev. J. Guillaume Forbes, Roman Catholic missionary at Caughnawauga, P. Q., kindly informs me that rdtironldks is a polysynthetic combination of kdronta, "tree, wood," and ikiks, "I eat." The following examples of the conjugation of the verb "I am an Algonquin" will illustrate the Iroquois grammatical method: Klrontdks, "I am an Algonquin," e. g., Itwarontdks, "we, you, and I, are Al"I eat wood." gonquins." slrdntdks, "thou art an Algonquin." idkwarontdks, "we, they, and I are Algonquins." rdrdntdks, "he is an Algonquin." rdtironldks, "they are Algonquins." Cf. also on this word, Cuoq, Lexique de la langue iroquoise, p. 39. 2
166
INDIAN PLACE
NAMES
their eastern Algic congeners, were essentially forest Indians, in contradistinction to the Iroquois, who called themselves R&tindnsidnni, "those who build cabins."3 There can be no doubt that RiUirdnt&ks was originally a term of opprobrium in the mouth of the Iroquois, whose whole history shows an unceasing warfare with the Algic clans. A curious but probably incorrect tradition still exists among the Mohawks of the St. Regis Falls Reserve, that the Algonquins were called "tree-eaters," owing to their habit of clearing streams for their canoes by cutting trees and logs which had fallen across the waterways. This is of course not a distinctively Algonquin trait. During a recent visit to Long Lake Village, Hamilton County, I called upon Mr. Mitchell Sabattis of the Abenaki tribe (Algic family), the oldest living Indian in the Adirondacks, who gave me the following Abenaki names of localities, most of which are in the neighborhood of Long Lake. My informant's father, the late Peter Sabattis, dead fifty years ago, but still remembered familiarly as Captain Peter, was a native of St. Francis, P. Q., the ancient reserve of the remnant of the Abenakis in Canada. Peter Sabattis and his Abenaki wife removed to the Mohawk community at St. Regis Falls late in the last century, where Mitchell was born about ninety years ago. The father and son were accustomed to hunt in St. Lawrence, Franklin, and Hamilton Counties in company with other Abenakis, who gave names to a number of the Adirondack lakes and rivers, only a few of which, however, are now recalled by the aged Mitchell. Of these the most important is the name Saranac, which is, according to Sabattis, a corruption of an Abenaki form S'nhalo'nek, which he explains as meaning "entrance of a river into a lake." The same word appears in Laurent's Abenaki and English Dialogues, p. 52, in the form Son-Halonek as the native name for Plattsburg. As the Saranac River debouches at Plattsburg into Lake Champlain, there can be no doubt that the name was applied to the river at • So Forbes.
This is a verbal form from kin ansa, "house, cabin."
INDIAN
PLACE
NAMES
167
that point, rather than to the two lakes now known as Upper and Lower Saranac. The Abenaki term as given both by Sabattis and Laurent presents many difficulties to the philologist. The Very Rev. M. C. O'Brien,4 of Bangor, Me., an excellent authority both on the ancient Abenaki and its modem Penobscot dialect, believes that S'n (Son) hàlô'nèk is either not an original Abenaki word, e. g., that it may be an Indian corruption of Saranac, or else that it must be a mutilated modern form. Owing to the following evidence, I am inclined to the latter hypothesis. The word may be a derivative from the two elements: 1. sang8k,5 "mouth of a river," of which s'n or son in this combination is either a modern variant, or a slovenly pronunciation for sôg (see below); 2. h'la, "comes" (cf. sôgâd-h'lâ, "it comes in," said of a river). The regular modern equivalent of sdng8k would be sôg, according to the spelling of Laurent, op. cit., but it is probable that in sôgââ-h'ld we have a fuller form of sôg, e. g. sôgâd + h'là; cf. sdnkëdë-'tegg8e, "embouchure d'une rivière" (Rasle, A benaki Dictionary, p. 442) and the ancient name Sârikëdë'râfik, "outlet," applied by the early Abenakis of Maine to the mouth of the Kennebec. The modern Sagadahoc is an evident corruption of this form (so O'Brien). In the form S'n (Son) hâlônëk, 4 Fr. O'Brien, the Roman Catholic Vicar-General of Maine, has in his possession the manuscript dictionaries of the Abenaki by Père Aubery (1715), mentioned by Gill in his brochure, Vieux Manuscrits abenakis, pp. 5 ff., 11 ff., Montreal, 1886. These works are very valuable for the study of the ancient Abenaki language. The references to Father O'Brien in this article are to letters from him to me concerning the place names herein treated. ' The systems of noting the ancient and modem Abenaki differ slightly. In the ancient language the missionaries used the numeral 8 to denote the it-sound. The nasal ii, always after a = ari, is now represented by S = òri (as in French mon). I use the apostrophe (') to indicate a very short vowel similar to the Hebrew sh'va mobile, and the sign ' to denote a guttural voice-stop not unlike the Semitic Ayin. This is unfortunately not shown in the system of writing the modern dialect. Where the ancient speech had r, I now universally appears. In the modern words cited in this treatise, the quantity of every vowel is marked. Note that d is almost like « in but, while I, I, and ô are obscure short vowels. The other vowels have the Italian values. The consonants are pronounced as in English except that g is always hard. The combination kh is not a guttural, but is to be pronounced separately k-h. The consonant » is a voiceless tenuis. The syllables in Abenaki receive almost the same accentuation as in modem French.
168
INDIAN PLACE
NAMES
-hdlontk, or more properly -h'lonik, appears to be the locative verb form of \Zh'ld, e. g., "the place where it comes in"; viz., "the outlet into a lake," as explained by Sabattis. In this connection may be compared ari-ratinek, "the place where one goes by canoe" (O'Brien). In spite of the difficulties of interpretation, then, we are justified in regarding Saranac = S'nhiUo'nek as a genuine Abenaki word, first, because of the apparent possibility of resolving it into known component elements, and secondly, because of the evident appropriateness of the meaning "outlet" to the Saranac River at Plattsburg. Some Abenakis derive Saranac from Saldnak, "Sumach buds," which are very common in the neighborhood, but this is doubtful, as the term is not exclusively applicable to the Saranac region and, moreover, smacks of popular etymology. Very interesting also is Papdlpdgd'mdk, the Abenaki name for Racquette Lake. According to O'Brien, this may be a derivative from an ancient root p8rbi, or reduplicated, pap8rbi, "doubtful, deceitful, treacherous," which is prefixed to the regular termination -gd'mak, meaning "at the lake"; -gama + loc. k. With -gdmd should be compared the Ojibwe ending -gdmi, "water, sea," as in Klchigami, "big water; ocean." The separate Abenaki word for "lake" is nepes (see below). The ancient form of Papdlpdgd'mdk, then, would have been Pap8rbangamak, "deceptive lake." Sabattis gives its meaning as "in and out; full of bays," which would be in harmony with this derivation, as a lake full of bays and points is deceptive to the navigator. According to Sabattis, the ancient name of Tupper Lake was Paskangd'mak, "side" or "branch lake." This is perfectly clear. The word consists of the well-known root pask- (ancient pesk- or psk-), generally signifying "break, cut off," + = gd'mak. We should compare here the present river-names Piscataquis (Maine) and Piscataqua (New Hampshire), "river branching off," from ancient Abn. pske -I- teg8e, the termination for "river" (mod. paska + ttkw). The separate word for "river" is sibo. To this same stem
I N D I A N PLACE
NAMES
169
belong anc. peskua'tek8n, "branch of a tree," and the modern verbs poskwenômuk, "break with the hands"; poskwkawômuk, "break with the feet"; poskwzómuk, "cut with a knife," and poskwtahómuk, "cut with an ax." The verb paskhômuk, "shoot" (pask-higan, "gun"), is undoubtedly a variant of the same root. The name Pdskdngd'mdk is peculiarly appropriate to the geographic position of Tupper Lake, which flows into the Racquette River between Long Lake, where the river begins its course, and Racquette Pond. Tupper Lake thus appeared to the Indians to be a branch of the river. It is really, however, the last of a chain which commences with the series of ponds just north of Little Forked Lake in Hamilton County. The lake now known as Little Tupper was called by the Abenakis Pdskdngd'mdsïk, the regular diminutive of Pâskângâ'mâk. The name Long Lake, now given to the narrow riverlike body of water, thirteen miles in length, which is the source of the Racquette River, is probably, as Sabattis states, a translation of the Abenaki Kwënôgâ'màk, from kwënô, "long," + gâ'tnâk. The root kwënô appears in Kwënï'tëgôk, e. g., kwënï, "long," + tëkw, ending meaning "river," + ôk, the locative termination. The name Connecticut is a corruption of the allied Massachusetts term, which differed only in having the -t locative termination. The same root kwënï-, "long" appears also in Kwënbddk, "Long Pond," kwënâkuèzô, "he is tall," kwënï, "during, while," and so forth. Forked Lake, not far from Blue Mountain Lake, was named in Abenaki Nïgïtâwôgd'mdk, evidently with the same meaning as the English term, which is probably a translation from the Indian. As O'Brien points out, the stem here is undoubtedly the same as that seen in Niketous, used to denote the confluence of two branches of the Penobscot. In old Abenaki I find from the same stem nikeia8teg8e, "rivière qui fourche" (Rasle, Diet. p. 523). O'Brien gives the same word from Aubèry as nik8da8atteg8e, "confluent de deux rivières." That this stem niketa or nik8da8 is identical with that seen in Sabattis's form Nîgïtâ-wô-gd'mdk is evident.
170
I N D I A N PLACE
NAMES
The Abenaki name for Mt. Marcy, which probably included its neighboring peaks, was Wawôbadenik, literally "white mountains," from wawôbi-, reduplication (pi.) of wôbi, "white," + aden, the termination for "mountain," + the locative -ik. The separate word for mountain is wajo (see below). It is interesting to note in this connection that Wawôbadenik is also the Abenaki term for the White Mountains of New Hampshire. A curious instance of an Abenaki popular etymology of a purely foreign term is seen in the name for St. Regis Reserve, P. Q. and New York; i. e., Pô'kuizâs'në, which Sabattis interprets "halfshriek," explaining it as referring to victories gained by his people over the Iroquois at that point. He also gives the name of the St. Regis River as Pô'kuizâs'nëtëkw, and of St. Regis Lake near Paul Smith's, Franklin County, as Pô'kuizâs'në-nëpës. There can be no doubt that Pô'kuizâs'në is an "Algicised" form from the original Mohawk name for St. Regis Reserve; viz., Akwësdsnë, "the place where the partridge drums," a word compounded of âkwêsâs = wâkwësâs6 + the locative suffix -ne. Wâkwësâs itself is a compound of ôkwësên, "partridge," + -as, which expresses the idea "strike many blows," as a drumming partridge does with its wings. In the Abenaki form Pô'kuizâs'në, the first element is the well-known, pô'kui, "half"; cf. Rasle, p. 561, p8'k8ie, "une moitié en large." The second element, -zâs'në, as given by Sabattis, is undoubtedly from the stem of the verb ne-sessinafi, "I bewail it" 7 (inanimate), Rasle, p. 508. All the terms just treated were given to me as original Abenaki names of the localities, applied independently of any English • Forbes gives the inflection of âkwêsâs = tvàkwësâs as follows: kâkwésis, "I drum with my wings like a partridge." sâkwësâs, "thou drummest with thy wings like a partridge." rSkwêsâs, "he drummest with his wings like a partridge." 7 The change of original j to 2 in Pò'kuizós'nl is due to the preceding vowel. Precisely the same phenomenon is seen in stbôsls, "brook," dim. of sibô, "river," but sibBsizlk, "in the brook." I find also k'chi zìbò, "big river," for k'cht sibô. The principle seems to be that when s is preceded by an i-vowel, and followed by a vowel, it softens to 2. A similar softening of / to d is seen in the phrases New York tali "at New York," but yu doli "at this place," e. g., "here." This is not represented in the modem system of writing Abenaki.
INDIAN PLACE
NAMES
171
nomenclature, and I see no reason to doubt this. In the following names my informant seemed a little uncertain as to whether the Indian terminology was independent of the English or not. He was unable to say whether the names in question were given first by his own people, or whether they were subsequent translations of English names. I cite them, however, as being of philological value for the study of Abenaki. Bog Lake, Mukwd'kwdga'mak, and Bog River, Mukwa'kwtikw, contain mukwa'kw, "bog," anc. meg8ak (Rasle, p. 483, "mar¿cage"). This word is perhaps connected with mek8-, mod. m'kui, "red," and is an allusion to the color of the bottom (so O'Brien). Round Lake, P&tSgwdga'mak, and Round Pond, P&lSgwoga'mdslk (dim.), are perfectly clear. For p&tSgwi-, "round," cf. mod. pet'gwelomsen, "whirlwind," e. g., "wind blowing in a circle," and the verb form k'pStSgiblnd, "we turn, return" (inclusive we). Lake Clear, near Paul Smith's, is Wasabdgak, lit. "clear liquid," from wasd + baga + loc. k. Wdsa is descriptive of light of any kind, cf. wdsan'tnogdn, "candle, lamp." The ending -baga is an adjectival and verbal suffix used only of liquids; thus, m'kazdwbagd, "it is black" (used of ink or water). Finally, Black Lake, M'kazawi nepes, Cranberry Lake, Pdpdkua nipes, and Blue Mountain Lake, Wilowi wdjdi nSpSs, are perfectly plain and require no comment. It should be remarked in this connection that in all these latter cases the names are so descriptive of natural features that they might easily have arisen independently and simultaneously both in Indian and English. I t may be interesting to note that the Mohawk name Ne-ha-se-ne, applied to a large preserve not far from Little Tupper Lake, means "that is so"; "c'est bien qa," and has no connection with the word "beaver," as is popularly supposed (so Forbes).
A T A L E IN T H E H U D S O N INDIAN
RIVER
LANGUAGE1
T
H E F O L L O W I N G text is philologically of the utmost importance, because in it we have what is probably the
last echo of the language formerly used by the Mohican
Indians whose original habitat was along the shores of our own
Hudson river. I t is well known that an extensive body of these people was settled for many years at Stockbridge, Mass., where Jonathan Edwards, Jr., studied and practically mastered their speech. 2 The members of this sub-tribe were first transferred from Stockbridge to a New York reservation, thence to Kansas, and have now found their final resting place on the so-called Stockbridge Reservation at Red Springs, Wisconsin, where some four hundred survivors still reside. Driven from one place to another among alien races as they have been, it is indeed surprising that there still remain members of the colony who know anything of their earlier language. A few of them, however, all old men and of failing memory, can still speak Mohican, and it was from one of these aged members that Mr. J . F. Estes, an educated Dakota Indian with no knowledge of the Mohican language, obtained for me the following text and free translation. With the exception of the few broken words gathered by Mr. Frank G. Speck in Kent, Litchfield county, Connecticut, this is apparently the only printed specimen extant of the modern Mohican idiom. Mr. Speck's material I have codified and analyzed in our joint paper "Dying American Speech Echoes Reprinted from the American 4ntltropologist, See Pilling, Bibliography of the Algonquian J . Sergeant. 1
2
N. S., VII (Jan.-March, 1905), 74-84. Languages, s. v. J . Edwards, Jr. and
A TALE IN MOHICAN
DIALECT
173
from Connecticut." 3 I regard it as most fortunate, therefore, that I have been able to obtain this longer connected specimen of a language which is historically so interesting and which in a few years' time will be quite extinct. Mr. Estes has written out the tale in the Dakota system of orthography, the key to which is as follows: a: ah b: as in English c: ch c: sh d: as in English e: ay g: like English hard g h: as in English h~: a soft aspirated guttural i: ee j, k: as in English k the voiceless tenuis m, n: as in English
n: the French nasal -n o, p: as in English p~: the voiceless tenuis r: as in English (I question the existence of r in modern eastern Algonquian) s: always hard as in safe t: as in English the voiceless tenuis th: as in thin u: as in the proper English pronunciation of rude w, y (consonantal): as in English
There are undoubtedly faults of transcription in the text, chiefly owing to the fact, as Mr. Estes has pointed out to me, that his Mohican narrator was old and toothless and consequently most difficult to follow. On the whole, however, as will appear from the following etymological analysis, the words are given so correctly that I have been able to identify nearly all of them by a comparison with kindred dialects, chiefly with those of the Lenape, the Canadian Abenaki, the extinct Massachusetts Natick, and occasionally by means of the idioms of the eastern Passamaquoddy and Micmac. The Mohican dialect herein given bears close resemblance to the Munsee dialect as still used at Hagersville, Ontario. 4 The 3
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, XLII, 346-52. Cf. Prince, "Notes on the Modem M in si-Dialect," American Journal of Philology, XXI, 295-302; "A Modern Delaware Tale," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, XLI, 20-34. 4
174
A T A L E IN M O H I C A N
DIALECT
differences between this Mohican dialect and the Munsee language are about the same in degree as those which exist between Dutch and High German. The Mohican was evidently a branch of the Munsee and stands related in a lesser degree to the kindred Lenape idiom of Brinton's Lenape Dictionary, which I have been able to use, however, in most cases in my identifications. There is something peculiarly melancholy in the thought that we probably have in this text the last specimen of the tongue which was heard for centuries in the neighborhood of New York City and along the shores of the great Maikanetúk, or "Mohican River," as the original inhabitants called the Hudson. MOHICAN TEXT I. G u t e withk enowak máwe p i p m a t o w a k ponak k ot awe ni thépo Maik anet úk. Aít an gamáu p ip mat it-. Gut e wañkmau máwe p ip mát owak. Psuk p'hánam gwéece dan hotawáñsman not ek ák. Kne phánam phaktámo. Arné-kseih t art a nin ph ak ek wat an ne t añe t a w á k w u k ne waac e ktep anank ne t a w á k w u k niu wicok niswa nameáo awáne nebiík. K aseeh t at a wosak k amonman. Onamiáñ sok wáawak wawéet han wic é maat ék. II. Kne anámatho ne wikwañmañk. Aupaáñ nimána wawéet han amé ien nañamp p nan nawáñ ne nip aakwenáayerk. Kne paeondit it a pipmauwinnowák. Kne awotañnánwan nimaná k aák wae maa naaméet ak- ne wañkamak. Kne sañáñwa waspowák nemanaák wic i ne p aakwenaayérk. Kne awot añnawan ph ánman pseek ánc k iiwa k ce p ot a. P iit in maawe ningáano ne p aak wenaayérk. Kne sañañwá wáspo anámatho ne paakwenaayérk. Kne ararne outháme p k añnák erst á k ise waamañk p áawe. Kne ne mañsáñt aman ne p ik wahák. Kne aan nétaao ne-íen-p i c iikwthin p ikwah k woerk. III. Máac e p ic ikwthiit a op ot awáñ cinwaac iik wawéet an aninúomp nan nan naawañ. Kne op ot awáñ pask owán nemánan ouwéenan aniwithit- ouwanthák amwok wadeao mah okwaowinjannak. Kne máac ino st añmiik ao máawe c iit mi. Kne máacino
A TALE IN M O H I C A N
DIALECT
175
nethwak nemanak ne nihanpak owak phanam maa knameanna. Na ph anam aat staatwahanmank ayiwi. Kne owak p e e t a t - no aut ap in no p e k w a h k w o k . Kne pasko matok awaau ounat t ookwun nan phanman. Kne ou ersta no o u t a p p e w a n . Kne anamithwak. Kne ciitmihein ph anam dan awanthith. Ersta gutciinwawe kanetpekak. IV. Kne kaawan p at anpan kcikwtho ph anam. Anamatho waweet- an ararne kakh ikammih ak ounae. No wic i k eseam sanpeetawan sek wiot ke nuuci thanp ein nihanpao at anakantak at annakoma. Kne thananwa out anwan aanayak. Ane maac e aiianmank no wicawotp ane. Kne waiawau anamannak ammau k akse naci withk enowa aine-amowat et waac iam mok wamp ak pant-itthanwamooce wac ii p ant it- nok mamici anaik ik- sikwiant it no ph anman. Kni-maacino ph anmak dap okkank wac ein met thondiit it- paeondiit iit a. V. Kne maawe nok mok wamp ak kp aothwak wek wameek ok danwa ph anam anh oano wac eam ersta nameanmok. Ersta meek ao paeondowak; kanwa paak waiyawau out anna meet thondiikw thanwa mat thondowak. Kne waiyawau anet ananta kithpundowak. Kne ni-ut an wa nemanaa ap it. Kne ouk wicimonan; k ak wai kt inin ne kmah okwaowenjan? Kne out aiinan k-aakwai? Amoskw nathak amok win. Kne ph anman ktankcako out anan: kankna waahinyan ktannamokwin. Kne kawamo p asko. Kne maawe kt ankcawak amusok wanawan. Kne p askowan anao withk enowan mawe amaama wayawau ama knimanamak mawe kwana. Ana niya nimanamak erstaam geese-k wanawik. Awayethak art okat t-am manwan nemanama. TRANSLATION I. Once on a time some young men went hunting in the winter up river on the Mohican River (Hudson River). That was where they always hunted. One day all were hunting. One woman alone and her child were in the camp. Then the woman was hulling corn. When she was washing the hulled corn at the spring, where
176
A TALE
IN M O H I C A N
DIALECT
the spring comes out of the mountain, she saw some persons in the water. She was washing her com when she saw them painted and she knew that was for evil (i. e., a bad sign). II. Then she went to where they (her party) were camping. She awaited the men (for) she knew that they were to be attacked that very night. Then when the men came, then she told the men what she had seen that day. Then they prepared—the men did— for that night. Then they said to the woman: " D o your best; do you go away and try to save (yourself). Perhaps we shall all be killed this night." Then, because it was so very dark, she could not go a great way. Then this (woman) remembered a certain hollow log. So she thought, " I will crawl into that hollow log." I I I . After she was within, she heard them fighting (and) she knew that they were attacked. Then she heard one man call him (her husband) by name (and say), "The dog has bitten my thumb." Then not long afterward all became quiet. After that two men came (and) they said, "We certainly saw a woman. That woman cannot be a great way off." Then they said, "Perhaps she is inside this hollow log." One of them used a stick, feeling with it inside for the woman. Then he said, "She is not inside." So they went away. Then the woman and her child lay quite still. Not once did she make a sound the whole night through. IV. Then, as soon as the dawn came, the woman crawled out. She went where she knew a crosscut. For this reason she was able to head off the murderers (and) she got to her home and people before they arrived. Then she told what had happened to her people; that all were killed who had gone with her. Then the chief sent all the young men around to notify the warriors that they should come at once. Those bad people had murdered the husband of that woman. Right after this, the women cooked (food) so that they (the murderers) might eat when they arrived. V. Then all those warriors shut themselves up in the wigwams and the woman hid herself, so that they could not see her. Not long afterward they came; when they arrived, the chief said, " E a t
A
T A L E
IN
M O H I C A N
D I A L E C T
177
ye," and they ate. Then the chief thought that they had eaten enough. So he went to where the man (murderer) was sitting. Then he asked him, "What have you (what is the matter) with your thumb?" And he said, "What? Why a beaver bit me." But the woman sprang out and said, "You liar, my husband bit you!" Then someone uttered the war-whoop. Then they (the hidden warriors) all jumped out and scalped them. Then (the chief) said to one of the young men, "Go tell the chief (of the murderer's clan) and say, 'Come bury your men.' " He (the chief) said to him, "My men I cannot bury. The wild animals have eaten my men up." ANALYSIS6 "once" = Pass, neql "one" (see below, § I . ) . W I T H K E N OWAK, "young men" = withke, "young" (Abn. uski; Oj. oshki) + linno, "man"; Munsee withkeelno (see Prince, P. A. Ph. S. XLI, 2 7 ) . M A W E , "all," a metathesis for Del. wemi. P L P M A T O W A K , "they hunt"; cf. Abn. pib'ma, "shoot"; N. pummau, "shoot." PONAK seems to mean "in winter," although my translator gives it "in the north"; cf. Abn. pebon, "winter." K O T A W E , "up there" = N. kuhkuhqueau, "he ascends." Ni (dem. pr.), " t h a t " = Abn. ni, "that." T H £ P O = Abn. sipo, a common Algonquian word. M A I K ANET UK, "the Mohican River" or "the Hudson"; cf. N D . p. 315, Mohicannituck, "Hudson." Note that -t uk, = Abn. -tukw, "river." AIT AN, "where," same element as Abn. toni; N. uttiyeu, "where." GAMAU, "always" = Del. ngemeivi, "always." P I P M A T - IT-, "they hunt," relative form, 3d pers., pi. G U T - E WANKMAU, I. GUTE,
" o n e d a y " ; A b n . nguddog'niwi,
pazego, pazekw, "one."
" o n e d a y . " PSUK, " o n e " =
P H ANAM,
Abn.
"woman," found only in Abn.
6 The following abbreviations have been used: Abn = Abenaki; the material for this language is drawn from Prince, Abenaki-English Dictionary (not yet published); Del. = Delaware; D. Lex. = Brinton, A Lendpe-English Dictionary, Philadelphia, 1889; Narr. = Narragansett; Roger Williams, Key into the Language of America; N. = Natick; N D . = J. Trumbull, Natick Dictionary, Washington, 1903; P. A. Ph. S. = Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society; Pass = Passamaquoddy (material from Prince's collections); Peq. = Pequot, discussed at length by Prince and Speck, American Anthropologist, V, 193-212; VI, 18-15, and Speck, American Anthropologist, VII, 469-76.
178
A TALE IN MOHICAN
DIALECT
p'hanem. That this is a real Mohican word is seen in De Forest, Indians of Connecticut, app., p. 491, where the form p'ghainoom is given. It is probably connected by metathesis with the stem meaning "split," i. e., vulva, seen in Del. ochqeu, Pass, and Micmac ¿pit, Oj. ikwe, and also with Narr. and Pequot squaw = s + qua. I think p-h• in ph ánam is a metathesis of k{p)-w{h) in the words just cited. GWÉECE, "alone," probably cognitive with N. wukse, "alone" (ND. p. 270). Is the gw- the same element as in gute, "one"? DAN, " a n d " = Abn. ta. H O T A W ' A Ñ S M A N "her child." I think Estes wrote hoi- for wot-, i. e., the w- of the 3d pers. prefix + the intercalated t before a vowel; cf. Abn. wd-awdssisma. The wi-element is the possessive suffix and the final -n is probably the obviate ending = Pass. -/, -a in Abn. N O T E K - Á K seems to mean "alone"; cf. Abn. nodega, and not "in camp" (so Estes), it is perhaps a redundancy for gwéece. RNE " t h e n " must contain the element k- = Abn. ga + ni, i. e., Abn. ni-ga, " t h e n " (ga-ni). PHAKTÁMO, "she hulls com," is probably cogn. with N. wuh-hogkommineash, "corn-husks." A R N É = the relative "when." There is probably no r in this dialect (?) 6 1 think this is Abn. ali = ane. See s. v. ARARNE, § I I . Perhaps this is the same element as Abn. t-dni, "when"? K S E I H T ARTA, "she washing" = D. geschiechton, "to wash" and Abn. kazebaaldmuk, "one washes." The -r- is superfluous here = -ata, i. e., the ending of 3d pers. overhanging -a, seen in Abn. pib'mddid-a, "when they shoot." N m is the inanimate pi. of ni, " t h a t , " and agrees with the following word. P H - A K EK WAT AN, "husks of corn," with inanimate pi. -an; cf. Pass. -ul. N E T Á N E is simply Abn. ni dali, "there" (lit. " a t t h a t " ) ; I = n as in the inan. pi. T A W Á K W U K contains the element seen in N. tohkekom, "running water." This is a cogn. of • In Abenaki the consonants are pronounced as in English and the vowels as in Italian, except a, a usual resumptive "then indeed." NAMEAO, "she sees" = Abn. w'namio, Pass, w'nimia, "he (she) sees." A WANE should be awanen with obviative ending -«. Cf. D. auwen, Abn. awani, "someone." N E B I K , "in the water" = Abn. nebik. K ASEEH T AT A, "while washing"; "while" is expressed by overhanging -a. See above kseiht-arta. WOSAK K AMONMAN, "her corn" = Abn. skamdnal; OA. skamun, "corn," and N. mesunkquammineash, "husks." The ending -an is inan. pi. ONAMIAN, "she sees it" or "them," with definite ending -an, cf. Abn. w'ndmid, "he sees him." SOK WAAWAK, "them painted"; cf. Narr. wusuck•wh&mmen, "he paints it." W A W £ E T H A N , "she knows it"; cf. Abn. uwawawinowo, "they know him." Wic £, "for" = Abn. waji, Pass. weji, "for." M A A T £ K = Abn. maji, N. matche, D. machtit, "bad, ill, evil." II. ANAMATHO, "she went" = D. attumsin, "he goes away," with th for s. WIKWANMANK, "the place of abode," from root wik. Cf. Abn. Tuigwom, "dwelling," and see below, § V . AUPAAN, "she awaits" = D. pehowen, "wait." NIMANA, "men"; the old Mohican word for "man" was nemanaoo; cf. De Forest, op. cit., p. 491. ARN£-EEN seems to be arne + the suffix -ien. NANAMP P NAN I cannot explain. NAWA5J = Abn. nawa, "then." NIP-AAKWENAAY£RK, "that same night" = Abn. niboiwi; D. nipahwi, "in the night." PAEONDIT IT A, "when they came" ("when they" = it-it-a); cf. D. paan, Abn. paid, "come." Awot-anndnwan, "she told them" probably contains stem of aan (see below) with intercalated dental. K-adk-wae, "what" = Abn. kagui, Pass, kekw, Del. kolku. Note the metathesis in N. teagua, "what." M A A NAM£ET-AK-, "what she had seen." This maa may be the sign of the past, seen in N. mahche,
180
A TALE
IN
MOHICAN
DIALECT
"already" (cf. also Prince, Pequot glossary, Am. Anthrop., vi, 36). Naméet ak- is the inanimate form in -t-; cf. Abn. namito, "he sees it" (inan.). Wankamak-, "on that day," must show the same element seen in Abn. nasôg-umakkiwik, "three days." Sanânwa, "they," has the same element as in Abn. sanôba, "man." Waspowâk, "they prepare," I cannot identify. Pseek ânc, "everything" = Del. tsigantschi, "all." K iiwa = "you" Abn. kiya (?). K ce p ot a I cannot identify. P u t in, "perhaps" = Del. pit; D. Lex. pp. 117, 15. See below on peetat, § III. Has this any connection with the French peut-être? Nengaano, "we shall be killed"; Del. nihillan, Abn. nihlô. I am not certain of this. Ararne, "because," perhaps = a-a-ne (?). See above on arné. Outhâme, "so very" = Abn. uzômi "too much"; Del. wsamiechen, "to have too much." P k annâk, "it is dark" = Del. pakenum, D. Lex. pp. 105, 10. Erstâ, "not," see below on stan, stat, § III. Same element as Abn. anda, Del. atta, N. mat, Pequot mud, "not." K ise, "she was able"; cf. Abn. kizi, "can." Waanmank, "go"; perhaps = Del. aan, "go." P âawe, "far," perhaps for palliwi with elision of I, so often seen in Pequot. Mansant-aman, "she remembers" = Del. meschatamen, D. Lex. pp. 82, 3. P ik wahak, "hollow log" = Del. puchtschessu, "it is hollow"; N. pukqui, "there is a hole"; Abn. piguagen, "it is hollow within." Note in the next sentence the form P'iKWAH'K'WOER K; -erk = ak in Abn. -akuam, "tree." Aan seems to mean "she said," probably cogn. with Munsee owh, Prince, op. cit., p. 30. Cf. Oj. iwa, "he says." Nétaao, " I think" = Del. ntite, "I think"; wditehen, "he thinks," D. Lex. pp. 153, 12. Ne-ien-p-ic iikwthin, "I will enter in." The element ien here is probably Del. aan, "to go" + pusihu, "enter anything," especially a canoe; D. Lex. pp. 120, 20; cf. next sentence, p ic-iikwthiit a, "when she had entered." III. Mâace, "afterward" = N. ne mahche, ND. 219 b. Ma is same particle seen in Oj. pa-ma, "afterward." See below maac-ino. Op-otawan, "she heard them" {wan). Cf. Del. pendamen, "hear"; Abn. podawazimuk, "one takes council." Cinwaac iik, "them (ik)
A TALE IN MOHICAN
DIALECT
181
fighting." I cannot locate this stem. W A \ V £ E T AN; note different writing here for W A W £ E T HAN above, § I I . A N I N U O I I P NAN NAN NAAWAN, "that they were being attacked." I cannot explain this form. See above s.v. NANAMP P NAN, § I I . P A S K O W A N , see above s.v. PSUK, § I. O U - W E E N A N , "he names him," from root wee = Abn. kdeli-wi-zi, "you are named"; also Del. wliwunsowagan, "name." ANIWITHIT-, "his name," a participial form in -it- = 3d pers. The -ni- element here = Abn. li in liwizowogan, "name." O U W A N T H A K AMWOK, "he bites me." I connect the root thak with ND. 226 b, sogkepuan, "he bites." Cf. Oj. nin-takwange, " I bite," Abn. sagamomuk, "bite," with s for th as usual. WADEAO, "the dog," shows same root as in Abn. wdamis, "his dog"; Pass, ndemis, "my dog"; Old Peq. nahteau, see Prince, Peq. Glossary, p. 36; nutleah. MAH OKWAOWINJANNAK, "the thumb," contains root seen in ND. 334 kehtequanulch, "thumb," i. e., kehte, "big" + uhquae, "finger." The Del. word was kitthukquewulinschawon, D. Lex. pp. 55, 1. The root inj, "finger," appears in Oj. onindjima, "his finger." M A A C INO, see above on MAACE. STANMIIK AO, "not long." This is clearly erstd (see above, § II.) + miik ao, "long" = Del. miqui, "far off." See below on STAATWAHANMANK, § I I I . The Abn. kweni, "long," is the same stem as in miik-ao. O U T - M I , "silent" = N. chequnnappu, "he is silent," ND. 322a. Cf. C I I T M I H E I N , § III. D. Lex. pp. 146, 22, gives tschitquihillen, "he is silent." Cf. Abn. chigabi, "be silent." N E T H W A K , "two," pi. = Del. nischa, Abn. nizwak. N I H A N P - A K , "they approach," contains the element of paeon, "to come." See above on paeonditila, § II. O ' W A K , "they say," pi. of element owh seen in Munsee. See Prince, P. A. Ph. S., XLI, 30, and cf. above on AWOTANNANWAN, § II. P H ANAM MAA KNAMEANNA. This maa is probably the sign of the past (see above, § II). KNAMEANNA, "we (inclusive) have seen her." A A T probably = "they say," participle of aan; see above AWOTANNANWAN, § II. ST-AATWAHANMANK AYIWI, "she is not far off." St aat is negative, see above on ST ANMIIK AO, § III; wahanmank = Del. wahellemat, D. Lex. pp. 150, 15, "it is a great distance"; ayiwi is the neg. of
182
A T A L E
IN
M O H I C A N
D I A L E C T
the verb "to be" ; Abn. andaamvi, "he is not." P E E T A T - , "perhaps," may be connected with pit, see above, § I I . s. v. P I I T I N , but it looks suspiciously like the French peut-être used as a loan word? No is the demonstrative that one; cf. ni, "that," and NOK, § IV., OUTAPIN, "she is lying" or "sitting," from root ap = Abn. ab in wdabin, "he (she) is lying" or "sitting." P EK WAH K WÔK, "in the hollow log," loc. of P E K W AHAK, see above, § I I . M A T ÔK, "stick"; cogn. archaic form is tachau, D. Lex. pp. 135, 8, "piece of wood." AWAAU means lit. "he uses," cogn. of D. Lex. pp. 24, 13 auweken, "he uses"; cf. Abn. awaka, "he works." O U N A T T O O K K W U N , "he feels inside with it," probably cogn. with D. Lex. pp. 92, 5 nattanamen, "he seeks someone." NAN P HANMAN. Note the obviative -n in both words. O U T A P P E W A N , "she is not there," from root ap (see above outapin, § I I I ) , with neg. ending -wan; cf. in ÂYIWI, § I I I . ANAMITHWAK, "they went away," see above § I I . on ANÂMATHO. Note difference of spelling. C I I T M I H EIN, "she was silent"; a participial form. See above on C I I T MI, § I I . AWANTHITH, see above, § I . , on HOTAWANSMAN. I cannot understand why the sibilant should be lisped in this form and not in the first instance. Cf. KESEAM, § I V . , and KITHPUNDOWAK, § V . The Abn. word is awôssis, "child." GUT-, see above on G U T E , § I . C IINWAWE, "he did not make a sound." Probably the same root as in C IITMI, § I I I . K A N E T PEKAK, "all night." For tpekak, cf. Abn. illitebakak, "at night." Kane here is simply Abn. kweni, "long, during"; thus, Abn. kwenitebakak, "all night." "as soon as," is probably a metathesis for kwenan = N. quenan, "as long as," ND. 325a. P A T A N P A N , "daybreak" = Del. petapna, D. Lex. pp. 114, 4. K CIKWTHO, "she comes out"; cogn. with Del. kutschin, "come out of a house," D. Lex. p. 59, 5. K A K H IKAMMIH AK OUNAE, "a crossroad." I cannot identify the first element; evidently from some root "to cross over," but ounae is good Delaware. Cf. D. Lex. p. 21, 3 aney, "road." K ESEAM, "she could" = Abn. kizi-, "can." SANPEETAWAN, "she heads them off." The element san- is probably the same as in sachgaguntin, I V . KAAWAN,
A TALE IN MOHICAN
DIALECT
183
"to lead," D. Lex. p. 123; Abn. sa-osa, "he goes forth." Does the element peet = Del. pet-on, "bring," D. Lex. p. 114, 20, also seen in petschi, "until," ibid., p. 114, 21? S e k w i o t k e , "murderers." I cannot explain this word unless it is connected with Del. saqua, sakqua, "troublous," D. Lex. p. 123. Nuuci, "first" = D. Lex. p. 102, 10 nutschi, "at first," "in the beginning." T h a n p e i n , "she came out, arrived"; same root as sa- in Abn. saosa, "he goes iorth" and paio, "come." Nihanpao, cf. nihanpak above § III. A t a n a k a n t a k and atannakoma, both cogn. with D. Lex. p. 31, 27 el-angomat, "a member of the family," and langoma, ibid., p. 60, 18, "relation." T h a n a n w a seems to mean, "what had happened?" O u t a n w a n , "she relates"; cf. below § V. O u t a n a n , "she told them." Aanayak seems to mean "the people" and is the same word as ANAiK'iK", § IV. Ananmank, "they (are) killed"; perhaps cogn. with -nalen in Del. gacklo-nalen, "he seeks (gachlo) to kill," D. Lex. p. 96, 12? This is probably the same element seen in Del. nikiUan, Abn. nihlon, "kill." W i c a w o t p a n e , "those who went with her" = Abn. wijaivi, "come with me"; D. Lex. p. 164, 5 witschawan, "go along with." Waiawau, "chief," is a good Delaware word; cf. D. Lex. p. 167, 9 wojav/we, or Anthony's form wejjaweu, "chief." Anamannakammau, "he sends"; perhaps = D. Lex. p. 17, 11 allogalen, "send someone," cf. N. D. annunau p. 319a (dnna = alio?). K a k s e naci, "all around." Kakse perhaps = Abn. kakaswi, "rather, more" and naci may be cogn. with ND.77b naskawe, "in between," "in the midst"? Ainea m o w a t e t - , " t h a t " (dine = Abn. ali); amowatet, "they should tell," 3d per. pi. W a a c iam = Abn. uiaji, "in order to"; cf. Wac ii below, § IV., and wice, § I. Mokwamp ak, "warriors," probably cogn. with D. Lex. p. 69, 8 machtageoagan, "war." Pant-it-, "that they should come" = Abn. paiodil; note the sing, for the pi. Thanwa-mooce, "immediately," contains the element schawi, "at once," D. Lex. p. 127, 12. Wac ii, cf. above on wac iam, § IV. Nok pi. of no, "those." Mamici, reduplicated form = Abn. maji, D. Lex. p. 70, 10-11 machtit, Peq. mudjee, "bad." Anaik.ik-,
184
A TALE IN M O H I C A N
DIALECT
" p e o p l e , " cf. a b o v e on AANAYAK, § I V . SIKWIANT i f , " t h o s e w h o
murdered her husband," same element as in TEK WIOT KE above, § IV. DAP OKKANK, "they cook," must be distantly connected with N D . 273 appuan, apwan, "he bakes." WACEEN, "so t h a t " ; cf. wac iam, wacii above, § IV. METTHOXDIITIR, " t h a t they m a y e a t " = D . Lex. mizin; Abn. mitsi, " e a t , " a common Algonquian stem. V. KP AOTHWAK, "they shut themselves u p " = D . Lex. p. 45, 18 gophammen, "shut, close"; Abn. kbaha; D. Lex. p. 56, 8 kpahki, "shut (the door)." WEKWAMEEK-OK, "in the houses"; Abn. u>igwom-ikok. N o t e the pi. locative -ikok. DAN-WA, " a n d " = dan (§ I) + the asseverative element -wa. ANHOANO, "she covers hers e l f " ; cf. N D . 2 3 8 b onkhum,
" h e h i d e s " ; WACEAM ERSTA NAMEAN-
MOK, "so t h a t they shall not see her" = Abn. waji anda ERSTA
MEEKAO,
"not
long";
cf.
above
on
namidwak.
STANMIIKAO,
§
III.
PAEONDOWAK, " t h e y came" = Abn. paidwak. KANWA, "when" = Abn. kanowa, " b u t . " PAAK, "they came" = paiak, aorist form. M£ET-THONDIIKW, " t h a t you should e a t " ; 2d pers. pi. participle from same root as Del. mizin. MAT THONDOWAK, "they ate" from same stem. AJVTETANANTA, "he thought" = Abn. nde-laldam, "I t h i n k " ; N D . 333a anantam, "he thinks." KITHPUNDOWAK, " t h a t they had eaten enough"; kith = Abn. kizi sign of the past + root pun-puin, D . Lex. p. 156. Note the lisped sibilant in kith in contrast with keseam above = kizi, § IV. The stem pun, puin is cogn. with Abn. pol-didit, "they e a t . " N i UTAN, " t h a t one (ni) went," from D . Lex. p. 9, 2 aan, "go." WA NEMANAA, "those m e n " ; note the obviative. A p r r , "who sits" = Abn. a bit. OUKWICIMONAN, " h e asks h i m " ; cogn. N D . 222a wehquetum, "he asks it"; Abn. •wikomomuk, "he seeks it." KAAK WAE, " w h a t ? " See above, § II. KTININ, " y o u h a v e " =
P a s s , ktiyin,
" y o u h a v e . " KMAH OKWAO-
WENJAN, "your (k') t h u m b " ; see above, § I I I , on matrokwaowinjannak. AMOSKW, " b e a v e r " = D . Lex. p. 58, 16 amochk. NATHAK AMOK WIN, " h e b i t m e " ; c f . a b o v e s. v. WANTHAK AMWOK, § I I I .
N o t e the 3d pers. suffix -kwin. KTANKCAKO, "she jumps o u t " =
A
T A L E
I N
M O H I C A N
D I A L E C T
185
D. Lex. p. 60, 7 laktschellen, "jump over." See below KTANKCAKWAK. ND. 286, quehshau, "he jumps," and Abn. ujam'gwigidahen, "he jumps over," are cognates. All these contain the root tsch = kc. K A N K N A , "thou liest" = D . Lex. p. 1 0 , 1 4 achgalunen, "to lie"; 37, 1, gakelunenhen, "to make a liar." I find in this word the explanation of the Pequot taiond-uksku, "lie," which I could not identify in Am. Anthrop., V, 2 0 5 . W A H I N Y A N , "my husband"; probably cogn. with D . Lex. p. 1 5 8 , 6 wiwu, "he copulates." KTANNAMOKWIN, "he bites you" (k'). See above wanthak amwok, § I I I . K A WAMO, "he war-whoops" = D. Lex. p. 1 6 , 2 1 kowano; Abn. kwakwaomo. AMUSOK WANAWAN, "they scalped them" = D. Lex. p. 74, 6 manoquen, "to scalp"; Abn. w'masokwomo, "he scalps him." M A W E , "go and tell" = D . Lex. p. 75B mauwi, "go." K W A N A , "bury" = Abn. pos-kenomuk, "one buries." N I Y A , "him," seems to be the obviative form of nekama, "him," "he." ERSTA-AM GEESEK W A N A W I K , "not can I bury them. "Note the neg. -w- in the verb-form. AWAYETHAK, "wild animals" = Abn. awasis, "animal." A R T = aat, "he says." O - K A T T A-MANWAN, "they eat them" = Heckewelder mohoan, "eat" ND. 250b; also Abn. mohdmuk, "one eats." The element kat't a is the same that is seen in Abn. w'gatahamowon, "he cuts off (his ear)."
AN A N C I E N T INDIAN
NEW
JERSEY
JARGON1
INTRODUCTION H I L E at Trenton as Acting Governor of New Jersey in 1912, the writer found in the vaults of the Department of State an old manuscript volume of deeds, pertaining to Salem County, N. J . 2 In this collection, inserted next to a deed bearing the date 1684, is "the Indian Interpreter," a list of 261 words and phrases in the English of the period and in a mixed dialect of the New Jersey Delaware language, the arrangement being at random with no attempt at alphabetical order. The material given in this list was published without comment in Lossing's Historical Record (I [1872], 308-311), but so faultily, with so many misunderstandings of the original orthography, and with such a quantity of typographical errors, that the reproduction is of no service whatever to students of the Lenape. The writing in the manuscript is somewhat difficult to read for one accustomed only to modern script. Thus there are many ambiguous characters, such as the similar capitals S-L and R-K, and the almost identically written minuscular tt-r-v-s; l-h, and so forth, so that a person entirely unacquainted with Lenape could hardly hope to make even an approximately correct transcription of the Indian words. The list is of considerable philological interest, first, because it undoubtedly represents a Traders' Jargon, used between the Delaware River whites and the Indians, almost grammarless and based chiefly on English construction, like the Chinook and 1 1
Reprinted from the American Anthropologist, X I V (July-Sept., 1912), 508-524. Salem Surveys, No. 2; stiff paper, yellow with age, in original leather binding.
A NEW J E R S E Y I N D I A N
JARGON
187
Eskimo traders' idioms of the North; and secondly, because the Delaware material, broken and erroneous as it often is, is not entirely Minsi. There can be no doubt that we have here Unami and Unalachtigo elements as well as Minsi. The following instances should be compared: nahaunum, "raccoon" (below nr. 76); miningus, "mink" (80); copy, "horse" (83); i for sch in singkoatam (97); s for tsch in singa, "when" (110; 114); r, for / in ruti, "good" (125); raamunga, "within" (135); rhenus for leno, "man" (227-228); roanonhheen, "northwest wind" (180), none of which words or peculiarities is of northern origin.3 Strangely enough, Brinton, in his Lenape and Their Legends, makes no mention of this manuscript material in the Salem Records, although he knew of and commented briefly on the Traders' Jargon.4 The jargon of the Salem Records and that given by Thomas4 are identical, save that the former source is much fuller than the few specimens cited by Thomas. The jargon words given by Thomas, which are not found in or are noticeably variant from the language of the Salem Records, are comparatively few and are as follows :5 apeechi (quickly) = SR. V hapitcha (117). aroosise (old) = Z. mihilasis (old man), from stem "decay." benain(g)tid (boys); not a plural = Del. pilwin (young) pil "one"; win + the dim. V" -tit. Note the interchange of I and «., Unalachtigo fashion. beto (fetch) = SR. petto (110). • Cf. J. D . Prince, "The Modern Minsi Delaware Dialect," Amer. Jour, of Philol., X X I , 295-302. 4 Op cit., pp. 75 ff., as instanced by Gabriel Thomas in his History and Geography; Account of the Province and Country of Pennsylvania and West New Jersey in America, London, 1698, a still accessible reprint of which appeared in New York in 1848. 4 The following abbreviations have been used throughout this paper: B. = Brinton, Lendpe-English Dictionary, Philadelphia, 1888; Z. = Zeisberger's Indian Dictionary, printed from the original manuscript, Cambridge, 1887; Pass. = Passamaquoddy; Aben. = Abenaki; A. = Albert Seqaqkind Anthony, collaborator with Brinton in his Lendpi-English Dictionary; RW. = Roger Williams; SR. = Salem Records; OA. = Old Abnaki; P. = Prince. It should be noted that the phonetic system followed by the writer of the Salem Record is that of the English of the seventeenth century. Both Brinton and Zeisberger followed the German method of notation, with certain irregularities on the part of Brinton.
188
A NEW
JERSEY
INDIAN
JARGON
chekenip (turkey); Unalachtigo form (Brinton, Len&pe, p. 37) = SR. sickenom (21). chase (skin) = SR. kayes (70). Palatalization of Del. ekes. See below s. v. kachi. chetena (strong) = Z. tschUanne (hard); ntschitannessi (I am strong). enychan (.children); not a plural = Z. nitschaan (my child); Aben. and Pass, nijan. etka (or) = etek (where it may be); used like the Germ, sei; Fr. soit for "or." haloons (shot) = SR. alluns (48). hayly (very) = B. cheli (much). hita (friend); cf. SR. 58. hodi (farewell) = Eng. "howdy." kabay (horse) = SR. copy (58). kachi (how many) = Z. kechi; B. kcechi. This guttural must have been pronounced with a strong palatalization to be represented by Eng. ch! Cf. below, marchkec. koon (winter) = SR. coon (16). marchkec (red) = Z. mechksitschik (red ones). tnegis (sheep) = SR. mekis (87). mogy (yes) = SR. mochee (98). Note the use of g in Eng. for the palatal sound. moos (cow) = SR. muse (85). (kee) namen (you see) = Z. nemen; common Algonquian stem. neskec (blue, black); B. nescalenk or nesgessit lenape (black men). nowa = Aben. nawa, a resumptive particle like Eng. " n o w " at the beginning of a phrase. ochqueon (coat) = SR. aquewan (40). Was this palatal ch or a guttural? Most probably the latter owing to Dutch influence (?) on the notation. opeg (white) = SR. sepeck (41). Peo (he will come) = SR. payo (133); poh (134). squalid (girls); not a plural; squa{w), on which see SR. 234 + dim. -tit. tongtid (young) = Z. tangeto (little); B. tangiti + dim. v 7 -tit. {nee) weekin (I live, dwell) = Z. wik (house); common Algonquian weesyouse (meat) = SR. iwse (81). P e r h a p s t h e m o s t interesting p h o n e t i c f e a t u r e of this jargon, of which t h e p r e s e n t p a p e r gives all t h a t is now e x t a n t , is the interchange of r a n d I. I t will b e observed t h a t t h e writer of the Salem m a n u s c r i p t gives rhenus
a n d leno for " m a n " (227-228); ruti
and
A NEW JERSEY
INDIAN
JARGON
189
olet for "good" (123; 125), showing that, even as early as 1684 the whites could hardly distinguish between the Indian r and I. The r was no doubt similar to the old Aben. r of Rasles' Dictionary, which is now everywhere represented by I, and also to the Iroquois r which is at present beginning to become I on the St. Regis Reservation in northern New York; i. e., the old Delaware r was a thick palatal which permitted a ready permutation to both I and n, as was the case in Unalachtigo (Brinton, Lenape, p. 38, and see just above s. v. benoin(g)tid). I t should be observed, in studying the following comparisons, that both Brinton and Zeisberger used the German system of notation in writing the Lenape. T H E INDIAN INTERPRETER 1. cutte (one); B. ngutti; Z. gutti. The n is inherent; cf. Pass, neqt (one). 2. nisha (two); B. nischa; Z. nischi. 3. necca (three); B., Z. nacha. 4. neuwa (four); B., Z. newo. 5. palenak (five); B. palenach; Z. palenachk. 6. cuttas (six); B. guttasch; Z. guttaasch. 7. neshas (seavon); B. nischasch; Z. nischasch. The -ascA-element corresponds to the -6z of the Aben. in nguedoz (six); tobawoz (seven). It must have denoted (five), as guttasch-ngueddz (six) = "one," plus -asch-dz; i. e., the first element is gut-ngued = Pass, neqt (one); while nischasch-tobawoz (seven) = nisch and Aben. toba-, Pass, taba, "two," + -asch-dz; viz., "one and five, two and five," and so forth. 8. 9. 10. 11.
haas (eight); B., Z. chaasch. pescunk (nine); B. peschgonk; Z. peschgunk. tellen (ten); B., Z. melellen. tellen oak cutte (eleven) = "ten and (oak) one"; Z. attach gutti; i. e., attach = "more"; it denotes -teen. Cf. nr. 183. 12. tellen oak nishah (twelve); Z. tellet tuoak nische; attach nische. 13. tellen oak necca (thirteen); Z. tellet woak nacha; attach nacha.
190 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.
25.
26. 27. 28. 29.
30. 31. 32. 33. 34.
A NEW JERSEY INDIAN
JARGON
tellen oak neurwa (fourteen); Z. attach newa. tellen oak pallenah (fifteen); Z. attach palenach. tellen oak cuttas (sixteen); not given by Z. tellen oak neshas (seventeen); not given by Z. tellen oak haas (eighteen); Z. attach chaasch. tellen oak pescunk (nineteen); Z. attach peschgunk. nissinach (twenty); Z. nischinachke. sickenom (turkey); B., Z. tschikenum (A. "archaic"). kahake (goose); B., Z. kaak "wild g." (A. kaag). quing quing (duck); B. quiquingus. Onomatapoeia. neckaleekas (hen); seems onomatapoeia. The nearest equivalent is B. quekolis; A. wekolis (whippoorwill). Mod. Del. kikipisch; Z. gigibis; probably a reduplication of the Dutch kip(pen), "chicken(s)." copohan (sturgeon); RW. kauposh; Aben. kabasa; connected with Z. copachcan (thick, stiff). Note OA. kabasse (closed in); same stem as Del. kpahhi (close); see below n. 138. hamo (shad); I cannot place; B., Z. schawanammek. hurissameck (cattfish); B. wisamek (A. = "fat fish"; archaic; at present wahlheu (mud-fish); Z. wisameek. sehacameck (eele); B. schachamek; Z. schachameek (lit., "it is a straight one"). cakickan (pearch); I cannot place. Perhaps should be read cakielan, same stem as B. machkalingus; Z. moechkalingus (sunfish ?). latniss (fish); B. names; Z. namees. weeko (suet, tallow); B. wikul (fat in animal's belly); Z. wikull. pomee (grease, fat); B. pomih; Z. pomi. kee mauhulome (wilt thou buy)? Z. mahallammen; B. mehallamen (buy). Cf. n. 99. kecko kee wingenum (what wilt thou have)? kecko = Z. kocu; B. kolku (what, something). The root wing- appears in B. winginamen (delight in); Z. wingilendam; Aben. n'wigiba-losa (I should like to go), and so forth.
A NEW J E R S E Y I N D I A N
JARGON
191
35. keck soe keckoe kee wingenum (say what hast thou a mind to). The -soe is clearly identified with the indefinite Pass, -ws in ke'kws (what, anything). 36. ne wingenum (I have a mind to). 37. kake (wampum); Z. gequak; B. gock., but A. (Mod. Del.) keekq. 38. sewan (wampum); perhaps Z. schejeek; B. schejek (string of w; A. edge, borer). 39. alloquepeper (cap, hat); B., Z. alloquepi. 40. aquewan (coate, cloak or wollen cloak); B. achquiwanis (blanket) ; Z. achquiwanes. 41. wepeckaquewan (a white matchcoat); the element wepeck (white) = B. wapsu (white); Z. woapsu. "Matchcoat" meant "leather coat"; Z. machtschi-lokees = "leather string." 42. himbiss (cloath, lynnen); cf. Z. hembsigawan (tent); lit. "a cloth dwelling"; or "where one dwells in cloth" (wig, "dwell"). 43. sackutackan (breeches); Z. sackutdckan; B. chessachgutackan (leather br.). 44. cockoon (stokings); B., Z. gagun. 45. seppock (shoes); root appears in Z. nemach-tschipachquaU (Indian shoes). 46. piackickan (gun); B. paiachkikan (gun); lit. "one fires it off"; from paiach-kammen, "fire off." Contains Eng. "fire" = paia; cf. Chinook Jargon word piah, "fire." The consonant / is foreign to many Indian languages. 47. punck (powder); B. ponk (dust; A. ashes, powder); Z. alta neponggomiwi (I have no powder). 48. alunse (lead); B. alluns (arrow; A. first "arrow"; then "bullet"). Proper word for "lead" was takachsin (soft stone; [P.]). 49. assin (stone, iron, brass, i. e., anything hard; P.); B. achsin; Z. achsiin. In Del. "iron" was sukachsin (black stone, P.); Z. sukachsiin. 50. assinnus (kettle, pot); a jargon word from assin (stone, iron), and so forth; B., Z. hoos (kettle). 51. tomohickan (ax); Z. t'mahican; B. temahikan.
192 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58.
A NEW JERSEY
INDIAN
JARGON
quippeleno (hoe); B. achquipelawon. pocksucan (knife); A. pachschikan. tocosheta (pair of sissers); contains root of B. kschikan (knife). shauta (tobacco); B. kschaley. hapockon (pipe); Z. hopoacan; achpiquon. A. "archaic." brandywyne (rum); proper word; lilenowokgan; Z. nelap (friend); really " m y friend"; cf. Pass, nitap, kitap, "my friend." The full phrase here in the MS seems to be hiyotl nelap (good be to thee friend, or thou good friend). This hiyotl appears to be a part of the verb " t o be" = hiyo; cf. yu in Aben. and Pass., "it is," and probably the root of will- (good). The sentence is indistinct.
59. tackomen (whence earnest thou?) = ta (where) + k, 2 p. + omen (come from); cf. Z. tacumen; same meaning. 60. tacktaugh matcha (whither goest thou?); Z. matchil (go home); but in Pass, mach, maj is the common root "to go." Tacktaugh = ta (where) + k = 2 p. + ktaugh, same element seen in Pass, future kti. 61. tana ke-matcha (whither goest thou?) Cf. Pass, tan (where, whither). Cf. n. 221. Tana = "when," 119. 62. Undoque (yonder, little way); B. undachqui (whereabouts); undach (here, this way). Cf. 113-222. 63. kecko Iwense (what is thy name?) Really, "his name." B. liiwunsu (he is called); Aben. liwizo; Pass, ic't-lewis. Cf. n. 206. 64. hickole (yonder); Z. ikalisi; B. ika talli. 65. kecko kee hatta (what hast thou?); B. olhatton (have, possess). Cf. no. 194. 66. matta ne hatta (I have nothing); B. matta (no, not). Cf. no. 95. 67. nee hatta (I have). 68. cutte hatta (one buck; lit. [I] have one); " b u c k " = B . a n d Z. 69. nonshuta (doe); B. and Z. nunschetto. 70. hayes (skin, not dressed); B. ches; Z. choy. 71. tomoque (beaver); B. ktemaque; Aben. tama'kwa.
ajapeu;
A NEW J E R S E Y 72. hunnikick
INDIAN
(otter); B. and Z.
193
JARGON
gunamochk.
73. mwes (elk); B. mos; Z. moos. 74. mack (boar); I cannot place; B. gives welchos (stallion, boar). It is possible that the writer meant to write wack, which might be a corruption of welchos. 75. hoccus (fox); Z. woakus (gray fox). Note the mod. New Jersey place name Hohokus,
still translated "many foxes." This is
probably an abbreviation of hokusak 76. nahaunum
(raccoon); Z. nachenum.
(foxes). The Minsi word was espan
(cf. A. in Brinton), a word which still lives in the Jersey Dutch of Bergen County has pan; cf. J . D. Prince, " T h e Jersey Dutch Dialect," Dialect Notes, I I I (part vi), 479. 77. linqwes (wild cat); Z. tschinque.
In the Minsi of the north, a
form similar to the Pass, lox (wolverene) must have existed, as we find the word katelos for "wild c a t " in Jersey Dutch (Prince, op. cit., p. 484). 78. hannick
(squirrel); Z. aniens
(fence-mouse) = ground squirrel
or chipmunk. 79. tumaummus 80. miningus
(hare); Z.
tschemammus.
(a minks) = mink; Z. winingus. This seems to show
the derivation of the Eng. mink;
Swed. mank from the Dela-
ware dialects. 81. Iwse (I use meat or flesh); really " m e a t " ; B. ojoos; Z. ojos. 82. kush-kush
(hog); B . and Z. goschgosch;
onomatapoeia.
83. copy (horse); I cannot place. The proper word was B . jungus;
Z. nechnajungees.
Kabay
nena-
is given by Thomas (see
above, Introduction). 84. ninnenuggus
(mare); Z. nechnaungesi
ochquechum
=
"horse
female." 85. muse (cow); B. mos; now = "deer" and " e l k " (A.). 86. nonackon
(milk); I do not believe there ever was a Delaware
word for "milk." This word in B . =
nonagan;
Z.
nunagan
87. makees (sheep); B . mekis, onomatapoeia from memekis
(bleat).
(nipple, mamma).
194
A NEW JERSEY INDIAN
JARGON
88. tninne (drink or ale); B. menen (drink); ntenewagan (drinking); Z. menewoacan (drink [n.]). 89. pishbee (small beer); Z. mbil (beer). Contains the root -bi (water). 90. hosequen (corne); Z. chasqueem; B. mesaquem (ear of corn). 91. pone (bread); B. and Z. achpoan; B. nd-apponhe (I make br.). This word survives in the Amer. South for (corn bread). 92. hoppenas (turnips); B. bobbin (potato); Z. hobbenis (tumip), with dim. -s. 93. seckha (salt); Z. sikey (A. "archaic"). 94. kee wingenum une (dost thou like this); une = B. won (this). 95. matta (no); B. and Z. matta (no, not) = the neg. atia with wt-prefix. 96. me matta wingeni (I don't care for it); note the Eng. me in the jargon for Del. ne-ni and also the neg. -i. 97. singkoatum (I do not care; I will cast it away); B. sckingattam (be unwilling, disapprove). 98. mochee (ay, yes); Z. moschiwi (clearly); Z. gives bischi (yes, indeed). 99. Me mauholumi (I will buy it); again Eng. "me" as above; Z. mahattammen; B. mehallamen (buy). The -i here may be a relic of the 1 p. -i = "I will buy it for myself" (?). 100. ke manniskin une (wilt thou sell this?). The stem mahal = "sell"; cf. Z. na (sic! = ne-) mahallamagentsch (I will sell it). In Aben., however, manahomen = "sell"; clearly same stem as here. 101. kecko gull une (how many guilders for this?). On kecko, see no. 34; gull (guilder); Dutch gulden. 102. kako meele (what wilt thou give for this?). The root mil is common Algonquian for "give"; cf. Pass, ke'kw k'milin wechi ni (what wilt thou give me for this?). 103. cutte wickan cake (one fathom of wampum); cf. B. newo wikan (four fathoms).
A NEW JERSEY I N D I A N
JARGON
195
104. nee metic (I will give thee); should be k'milen, Z.; cf. Aben. k'milel. Cf. no. 144. 105. cutte steepa (one stiver); Dutch stuiver. 106. steepa (farthing) = "stiver." 107. cutte gull (one gilder; sixpence). 108. momolicomum (I will leave this in pawn); must contain root tnol, seen in Z. wulatschi-mol-sin (treat about peace). 109. singa kee natunnum (when wilt thou fetch it?) Z. tsckinge (when); B. naten (A. "go after something"); Z. n'natammen (I will fetch). 110. singa kee petta (when wilt thou bring it?). Z. petoon (bring). 111. necka couwin (after three sleeps; 3 daies hence); Z. gauwin (sleep; cf. no. 183). 112. tana kee natunum; see no. 109. 113. undoque (yonder); see no. 62. 114. singa (when); Z. tsckinge. 115. iucka (day); really B. juke (now); juke gischquik (today). Cf. nos. 129; 257. 116. kis quicka (this day; a day); B. gischquik; Z. idem. 117. hapitcha (by and by); Z. pecho; B. apitschi. 118. alloppan (tomorrow); Z. alappa; A. ajappa. 119. tana hatta (when hadst thou it?). Tana (whither [61]) = Pass. tan (what, where, when). 120. quash matta diecon (why didst thou lend it?). B. and Z. quatsch (why); note Z. k'nattemihi (lend me). The m-. form must be for k'nattadikon (he lends it to thee); cf. Aben. k'mU'gon (he gives it thee). 121. kacko pata (what hast thou brought?); B. peton; Z. petoon (fetch). Note the absence of the personal prefix. 122. cuttas quing quing (six ducks); cf. nos. 6 and 23. 123. olet (it is good); B. and Z. wulit. 124. matta olet (it is bad; lit., it is not good). 125. matta ruti (it is good for nothing); matta (not); ruti = luti = the stem wtd- + the neg. -i.
196
A NEW JERSEY
INDIAN
JARGON
126. husco seeka (it is very hansom); B. and Z. husca (very); Z. schiki (handsome). 127. husco matit (it is very ugly); Z. machtit (ugly). 128. ke runa matauka (thou wilt fight); quite a wrong translation; ke runa = kiluna, the incl. "we." The plural " y o u " would have been kiluwa; " t h o u " = ke-. 129. lough malcha (get thee gone; lit., now go); iough = B. juke (now); cf. no. 115; matcha (go depart); cf. nos. 60; 61. 130. undoque matape (sit yonder); Z. bemattachpil (sit). 131. ne malhit wingenum (we will be quiet; really, I will, and so forth); mathit must be a corruption of Z. dammieche (be still, lie quiet); B. klamachpin (?). Note the apparent use of wingenum (wish), for the future. The jargon reproduces the guttural by th; cf. nos. 235; 260. 132. noa (come hither, come back). Probably from B. nawochgen (follow), seen also in the resumptive nawa. 133. payo (to come); B. paan; Z. peu (he comes). 134. match poh (he is come; coming). This use of match- to denote the present action is common in Aben, and Pass. Note Z. peu (he comes). 135. raa munga (within); Z. allamunque. raa-m = lam in Aben, and Pass, lami (within, inside). 136. cochmink (without); B. kotschemunk; Z. kotschmunk; Pass. kotchmek. 137. tungshena (open); Z. ntunkschememen (I open it); B. tenktschechen; lonktschenemen. 138. poha (shut); B. kpahi; A. kpahhi; Pass, k'baha. 139. scunda (the door); Z. esquande = Eingang. 140. ke cakeus (thou art drunk); Z. achkienchsu (a drunken man). 141. opposicon (beyond thyself) = drunk. Probably = B. achpussin (broil, roast); here = achpussikan (he broils him; he is broiled); slang (?). 142. husko opposicon (much drunk).
A NEW JERSEY INDIAN
JARGON
197
143. mockorick (a great deal) = B. mechakgilik (great); machdi; mecheli (more). 144. maleema cacko (give me something); mil (give, see no. 104); the form should be milil (give me); Aben. milin. 145. abij; bee (water); Z. m'bi; B. mbi; Aben. nebi. 146. minatau (a little cup to drink in); men is a common Algonquian stem (to drink); B. menachtin (drink together). 147. mitchen (victuals); B. mizewagan; Z. mizewoagan. 148. mets (eat); Z. mizin; and cf. Aben. mils (eat). 149. poneto (let it alone); Z. ponih (leave off, let it alone); B. pottemen (let go, leave off). Cf. Pass, pon'mont'hag'n agwecTnuk (put the paddle in the canoe). 150. husco lallacutta (I am very angry); seems to mean "irritated"; Z. lalha (scrape); B. lalhan. Properly "angry" was B. manunxin. 151. ke husko nalan (thou art very idle); Z. nolhandowoagan (idleness); B. nolhand (lazy). 152. chingo ke malcha (when wilt thou go?); Ischinge (when); cf. no. 109. 153. mesickecy (make hast); schauwessin; Z. schauwessi; probably mesickecy is for wesickecy, a corruption of the -wessin element in the above words (?). 153a. shamahala (run); B. kschamehellan (fast). 154. husko taquatse (it is very cold). 155. ne dogwatcha (I am very cold; I freeze). With these words, cf. B. tachquatscho (he is cold, shivering); Z. tachqualschuwak (they freeze, see no. 156). 156. whinna (snow, hail); Z., B. wineu (it snows); same stem seen in Z. guhn (snow; see just below). Whinna cannot mean "hail," which was tachsigin. 157. ahalea coon hatta (have abundance of snow, hail, ice); ahalea = B. alUrwiwi (more). Coon = Z. guhn (snow, 156). 158. take (freeze); B. taquatten (frozen); taquatschin (freeze). 159. suckolan cisquicka (a rainy day); B. sokelan (it rains); Z. socelantsch (it will rain); Aben. soglon (it rains).
198
A NEW J E R S E Y I N D I A N
JARGON
160. loan (winter); Z. lowan; B. loan. Cf. no. 180. 160a. sickquim (the spring); B., Z. siquon; Z. siequangge (next spring); Pass, siguak (in spring). 161. nippinge (summer; really, next summer); B., Z. nipen. 162. tacockquo (the fall); B. tachquoak. 163. tana ke ivigwham (where is thy house?); B. wikwam; Z. wiquoam. 164. hockung kethaning (up the river); B. kittan (great [tidal] river). The last element -tan is the same as that seen in manhattan = m'na'tan (an island surrounded by tidal water) = -tan. The word hockung must have meant "down (the river)," as it = hakink (on the earth, down, under). Upstream = nallahiwi, B. 165. tana matcha ana (where goes the path?). B. aney (road, walking road, path). Cf. no. 200. 166. iough undoque (go yonder, lit., now there); cf. no. 115. 167. hitock (a tree); Z. mehittuk. 168. hitock nepa (there stands a tree); Z. nipu (he stands). 169. mamanhiikan 170. mamadawickon (peach or cherry); I cannot place. 171. manadickon 172. virum (grapes); both B. and Z. wisachgim; probably should read visum (?). 173. acotetha (apple); must be the same stem as Z. achquoacilennees (blackberries); no doubt a misapplication. Both B. and Z. give dpel for "apple." 174. hosquen (corne); Z. chasqueem; B. chasquem. 175. cohockon (mill); B. tachquahoakan; Z. tachquoahodcan. 176. local (flower or meale); B. lokat; Z. locat. 177. keenhammon (grind it); B. kihuhammen. 178. nutas (bag, basket); B. menutes; the ending -notey occurs in Z. hembinotey (bag of linen). This «/-root is seen in Pass, b'snud; Aben. abaznoda (basket; lit., "a wooden bag"); (Pass, epus; Aben. abazi = "wood, tree"). 179. poquehero (it is broke); B. poquihilleu.
A NEW JERSEY INDIAN
JARGON
199
180. roanonhheen (a northwest wind); Z., B. lowanachen (north wind; lit., winter-wind); cf. no. 160. 181. ruttehock (the ground will burn and be destroyed); B., Z. luteu (it burns); haki (earth). 182. hockcung (a chamber; lit., on the ground); cf. no. 164. B. gives wikwamtit (chamber; lit., little [-tit] house). 183. quequera qulam tanansi oke cowin kee catungo (where I look for a place to lie down and sleep, for I am sleepy). This phrase appears on three lines in the MS and was thus copied by Lossing. The sentence seems hopelessly corrupted, probably by the original scribe. I can find nothing to indicate what was meant by the words quequera qulam tanansi, except by supposing that in tanansi we have some form of the stem seen in ndoniken (he seeks me). Oke is "and" = woak; cf. no. 11. cowin (sleep) = Z. gauwin; cf. no. 111. The words kee catungo = "thou art sleepy" and not "I," as above. They were either wrongly introduced here, or else the whole phrase should be in the 2d per. It may be noted that the q in quequera and qulam may be indications of the 2d per. = k. 184. aloppan (tomorrow); cf. no. 118. This probably goes with what follows. 185. ne hattunum kwissi takene (I will go a-hunting in the woods); in two lines in the MS. With ne hattunum kwissi, cf. Z. ndochwilsi (I go hunting). The usual root is allawm; cf. J. D. Prince, "The Modern Minsi Delaware Dialect," Amer. Journ. of Philol., XXI, 294-302. "In the woods" was properly tekenink; B., Z. tekene. 186. attoon attonamen (goeing to look for a buck); attoon = Z. achtu (deer). This word probably is concealed in the modern corrupt form Tuxedo which the Marquis de Chastellux in 1785 translated "there are plenty of deer"; i. e., Tuxedo possibly = achtuhuxitonk = B. achtuhu (there are many deer) + -xit (where one gets them) + the loc. -onk = "place where one gets many deer." Attonamen is from naten (go after
200
A NEW J E R S E Y
INDIAN
JARGON
something). The form should be n'nalen (I seek him [anim.]); {n)alUmamen is inanimate and wrong here. 187. matcha pauluppa shuta (I have catcst [stc/] a buck); B. palippawe (buck) and Z. tchunasu (catched [sic/]), from which shuta is obvious. The entire phrase means " I am going (matcha; no. 60, for nee matcha) a buck to catch." 188. accoke (a snake); B. Z. achgook; Aben. skok. 189. mockerick accoke (rattlesnake; lit., big [see no. 143] snake). Z. vnschalowe = "rattlesnake" ( = "frightener"; A.). 190. husko pur so (very sick); pur so = B. palsin; same stem seen in no. 191. 191. tespahala (smallpox); B. despehellan; Z. despehelleu. Stem is pa(h)al, pehel (sick be), seen in B. pal-sin (no. 190). 192. nupane (the ague; lit., it comes again); B. nohenopenowdgan (the sickness which recurs again [A.]). 193. singuope (hold thy tongue); perhaps a corruption of B. samuttonen (close the mouth). The proper word was tschitgussin (Z.) = "be silent." 194. singuap hockin hatta (be quiet, the earth has them; they are dead). Earth = Z. hacki; B. haki. Cf. no. 65 for hatta (have). The -in may be for the loc. -ing, ink. 195. sheek (grass or any green herb; should be skeek); B. askiquall, skiquall; Z. masgik; B. maskik. Cf. Pass, m'ski'kwul (grasses). 196. hocking (the grounds); Z. hacki; B. haki (earth; lit., in the earth). Cf. Pass, ki; Aben. a'ki, and so forth. 197. hockehockon (plantation); Z. hakihacan. 198. nee tukona (my country); also from hacki; viz., n of the 1st per. + the intercalated -t- before a vowel or soft h + the element uk-ak = hacki. 199. ouritta (plaine; even; smooth). This is simply wulita (it is good), specially applied to land here. Properly "plain" was B. memgukek (A. schimgek). 200. oana (a path; highway); B., Z. aney. See no. 165 spelled ana. 201. singa mantauke (when we fight); tschinge (when, see nos.
A NEW J E R S E Y
202. 203.
204. 205.
INDIAN
JARGON
201
114; 152); B. machtagen; Z. machtageen (fight). There is no indication of person in this phrase. ne holock; Eng. not given (see no. 205). ne rune husco kmssase (we are afraid; should be, much [husco] afraid). Ne runa = niluna, the exclusive "we"; cf. no. 128 for kiluna, the incl. "we." opche hwissase (always afraid); Z. abtschi (always). ne olocko loon (we run into holes); verb-form, really 1st per. pi. excl. from Z. woalac; B. walak; A. waleck = " a hollow, excavation; not a hole which penetrates." No. 202 above, ne holock probably meant "my hole" and was construed as "arse-hole"; hence the modest writer of the MS left the English blank. The regular Del. word for "arse-hole" was saputti; cf. J . D. Prince, "Dying American Speech Echoes from Connecticut," Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., X L I I , 351.
206. keeko kee lunse une (what dost thou call this?). Note keeko; should probably be read keeko (cf. no. 34); kee = 2d per. sing.; on lunse, see no. 63. 207. checonck (looking-glass). The usual expression was B., Z. pepenaus (mirror), from pipinamen (differentiate, choose). The Natick word for "mirror" was pepenautchitchunkquonk; Narr. pebenochichauquanick (the thing by which one sees a reflection). Checonck of the jargon MS seems to contain the final element of a Del. word akin to these long combinations just indicated. 208. powatahan (a pair of bellows); an inversion of Z. putawodgan. 209. itcoloha (a cradle), for Z. Ichallan (Indian bedstead); wrongly. tschallaan in B. 210. mamolehickon (book or paper); B. mamalekhikan (writing, letter; A. in crooked lines or stripes); from lekhammen (write). 211. leecock (table, chair, chest); evidently from liechen (lie down); Z. liwichin (rest). Apparently a jargon word (?). 212. sepussing (creek); diminutive locative of sipo (river); Aben. sibo.
202
A NEW JERSEY INDIAN
JARGON
213. kitthaning (river); B. kittan; see no. 164. kitthaning is loc. "at the river." 214. moholo (a canoe); B. amochol; Z. amdchol. 215. rena moholo (a great boat or ship); perhaps for lina{quot) amochol (it is like a canoe ?). 216. taune kee hatta (where hadst thou it?). On taune see no. 61; on hatta, nos. 65; 194. 217. ne taulle ke rune (I will tel thee); verb-form from stem dl; cf. Z. kt-dl-len, "I tell thee." Here in the jargon they used the 1st per. + 3d per. ne taulle = nt-dl-e; lit. "I tell him," and added ke runa = kiluna; see no. 128. 218. ne maugholame (I bought it); B. mehallamen; see no. 99. 219. ke kamuta (thou hast stolen it); Z. com moot; com mootgeen (stolen); kemodgewak (they have st. it). 220. matia ne kamuta (no, I did not steal it); see nos. 66; 95 for maita. 221. taune maugholame (where dist thou buy it?). See nos. 61; 99. 222. A. B. undoque (yond of A. B.). See nos. 62; 113. 223. B. C. sickomeele (B. C. will give me so much for it). Z. tauchlendchi - "how much?" A. keechi (how much?). The sielement must be the chi in keechi; komeele = k'mili (you give me). The correct translation is probably "B. C., how much will you give me?" 224. sawwe (all); Pass, m'siu; Aben. m'ziwi. The proper Del. word was B. wemi; Z. weemi. 225. hockung tappin (God's; lit., on earth [hockung] is God); {tappin = Pass, tepeltek; Aven. tabaldak, "lord"). 226. manitto (the Devill); B. Manitto (A. "spirit"); cf. Z. manittowdhalan (bewitch). 227. renus (man) = lenno; see no. 228. The -s here is diminutive. 228. leno (man); B. lenno. 229. per ay (a lady) = pelay; same element as in Pass, pil- (young), seen in Pass, pil-skwessis (young woman, girl). Peray-pelay really means "young female."
A NEW J E R S E Y INDIAN
JARGON
203
230. penaesit (boy); for penae-tit = B. pil-wessin (be a boy; see no. 229). The ending -tit is diminutive. 231. issimus (a brother), should probably be connected with Pass. nsiwes (my brother). This is the same stem seen in Z. schiess (uncle). Z. gives nimat, kimat (my brother, thy brother). 232. runcassis (cousin); B. longachsiss (cousin), but A. = "nephew." 233. mitthurrus (husband); must = witthullus (her husband); same stem as in B. allewussowagan (majesty, supremacy). Cf. no. 242. 234. squaw (a wife); a jargon word from the Natick squaw (woman). The kindred Del. was B. ochque; Z. ochqueu. 235. noeck (father); Z. nooch (my father); ochwall (his father); and so forth. Note the hardening of the guttural and cf. nos. 260-261.
236. anna (mother); perhaps a jargon word. The proper Del. was B. gahowes; Z. gahowees. 237. haxis (old woman); corruption of Z. chauchschiessis. 238. aquittit (little girl); B. ochque-tit; lit. "little woman." Ignores guttural. 239. kins kiste (a maide ripe for marriage); corruption of choanschikan (virginity). 240. papouse (a sucking child); a jargon word from the Natick, as no. 234. Del. was B. nonetschik; Z. nohtdentschik (children). 241. munockon ([?] or a woman; MS indistinct). This is probably B. allamachtey (womb, inward parts (?), and denotes the pudendum femina). 242. qualis (a master); k'welis (thy master) from allewus, as in no. 233. 243. tollemuse (servant); w't-allemus (he hires [sends] him); cf. B. allogagan (servant); Z. allogdman (he is sent). Is allum (dog) from this stem? Cf. Aven. w'd-alemos (his dog). 244. wheel (the head); Z. wihl; B. wil. 245. meelha (the hair); Z. milach; pi. milchall. 246. skinch; Z. wuschking; B. wuschgink (eye); cf. Natick skizucks.
204 247. 248. 249. 250. 251. 252. 253. 254. 255. 256. 257. 258. 259. 260. 261.
A NEW JERSEY INDIAN
JARGON
hickywas (the nose); Z. wickiwon; B. wikiwon. tum (the mouth); B., Z. wdoon. wippet (the teeth); Z. wipüt; B. wipit. pentor (the ear or hearing) = k'pentol (I hear thee); B. pendamen (hear); Z. necama k'pendak (he hears thee). quaquangan (the neck); Z. ochquecanggan. nocking (the hand); B. nachk; properly "my hand." ponacka (the hands). I cannot explain the prefix. wotigh (the belly); B. wachtey. hickott (the legs); Z. wickaat. ceet (the foote); B. w'sit; Z. w'chsiit. iucka (a day); B .juke (now); Z. jucke. Cf. nos. 115, 129. kishquecon (a week); B. gischquik. kisho (a moneth); B., Z. gischuch (month). cothtingo (a year); B. gachtin; Z. gachtün. Note the rendering of the guttural in the jargon by th. Cf. no. 235. passica cation (a hälfe yeare); B., Z. packsiwi (half) + cation = B. gachtin; Z. gachtün. Here the guttural is ignored in the jargon. Cf. no. 235. INDEX
Abundance, 157 Afraid, 203 Ague, 192 Ale, 88 All, 224 Alone, 149 And, 11-19 Apple, 173 Arrow, 48 Autumn, 162 Ax, 51 Aye, 98 Bad, 124 Bag, 178 Beaver, 71
Bellows, 208 Belly, 254 Beyond thyself, 141 Big, 189 Boar, 74 Book, 210 Boy, 230 Brass, 49 Bread, 91 Breeches, 43 Bring, 110, 121 Broken, 179 Brother, 231 Buck, 187 Bullet, 48
Burn, 181, 182 Buy, 33, 99, 218, 221 By and by, 117 Call, 206 Canoe, 214 Cap, 39 Care for, 96, 97 Catch, 187 Catfish, 27 Chair, 211 Chamber, 182 Cherry, 169-171 Chest, 211 Child, 240 Cloak, 40
A NEW JERSEY
INDIAN JARGON
Cloth, 42 Fire off, 46 Coat, 40 Fish, 30 Cold, 154-155 Five, 5 Come, 133-134 Flour, 176 Come from, 59 Foot, 256 Come hither, 132 Four, 4 Corn, 90, 174 Fourteen, 14 Country, 198 Fox, 75 Cousin, 232 Freeze, 155, 158 Cow, 85 Friend, 58 Cradle, 209 Give, 102,104,144,223 Creek, 212 Go, 60, 161, 165 Cup, 146 Go away, 129 Day, 115,116,159, 257 God, 225 Deer, 186 Good, 123, 125 Goose, 22 Desire, 35-36 Grapes, 172 Devil, 226 Grass, 195 Doe, 69 Grease, 32 Door, 139 Great deal, 143 Drink (n.), 88 Grind, 177 Drunk, 140, 142 Grounds, 196 Duck, 23, 122 Guilder, 101 Ear, 250 Gun, 46 Earth, 194 Hail, 156 Eat, 148 Hair, 245 Eel, 28 Half, 261 Eight, 8 Hand,252-253 Eighteen, 18 Handsome, 126 Eleven, 11 Hare, 79 Elk, 73 Haste (vb.), 153 Even, 199 Hat, 39 Eye, 246 Fall, 162 Have, 34, 65, 119, 157, Farthing, 106 194, 216 Fat (n.), 32 Have a mind to, 35 Head, 244 Father, 235 Hearing, 250 Fathom, 102 Hen, 24 Fetch, 109-112 Highway, 200 Fifteen, 15 Hoe, 52 Fight, 128, 201
205
Hog, 82 Hohokus, 75 Hold thy tongue, 193 Hole, 202, 205 Horse, 83 House, 163 How many, 101 Hunting, 185 Husband, 233 I, 105 Idle, 151 Iron, 49 Kettle, 50 Knife, 53 Lady,229 Lead (metal), 48 Leave in pawn, 108 Legs, 255 Lend,120 Let it alone, 149 Like, 94 Linen, 42 Little girl, 238 Look for, 183, 186 Looking-glass, 207 Maiden, 239 Man, 227-228 Mare, 84 Master, 242 Matchcoat, 41 Meal, 176 Meat, 81 Milk, 86 Mill, 175 Mind, 35 Mink, 80 Month, 248, 259 Mother, 236 Name, 63 Neck, 251
206
A
NEW JERSEY
Nine, 9 Nineteen, 19 No, 95 Northwest wind, 180 Nose, 247 Now, 129 Old woman, 237 One, 1 Open, 137 Otter, 72 Outside, 136 Paper, 210 Path, 165, 200 Pawn, 108 Peach, 169-171 Perch, 29 Pipe, 56 Plain, 199 Plantation, 197 Pot, 50 Powder, 47
Pudendum,
241
Quiet, 131, 194 Raccoon, 76 Rainy, 159 Rattlesnake, 189 Return, 132 River, 164, 213 Rum, 57 Run, 153a Run into holes, 205 Salt, 93 Scissors, 54 Seek, 183 Sell, 100 Servant, 243 Seven,7
INDIAN JARGON
Seventeen, 17 Shad, 26 Sheep, 87 Ship, 215 Shut, 138 Sick, 190 Sit, 130 Six, 6 Sixteen, 16 Skin, 70 Sleep, 111, 183 Sleepy, 183 Small-beer, 89 Smallpox, 191 Smooth, 199 Snake, 188 Snow, 156-157 Something, 144 Spring (season), 160a Squirrel, 78 Stand, 168 Steal, 219-220 Stiver, 106 Stockings, 44 Stone, 49 Sturgeon, 25 Suet, 31 Summer, 161 Table, 211 Tallow, 31 Teeth, 249 Tell, 217 Ten, 10 Thirteen, 13 This, 94, 100, 206 Thou, 110 et passim
Tobacco, 55 To-morrow, 118, 184 Tree, 167, 168 Turkey, 21 Turnips, 92 Tuxedo, 186 Twelve, 12 Twenty, 20 Two, 2 Ugly, 127 Up, 164 Very, 126 et passim Victuals, 147 Wampum, 37-38, 103 Water, 145 We, 128, 145, 203 Week, 258 What, 35, 63, 102, 121 When, 110, 114, 152, 201, 206 Whence, 59 Where, 163, 165, 216 White, 41 Whither, 60-61 Why, 120 Wife, 234 Wild-cat, 77 Will (vb.), 34 Winter, 160 Within, 135 Without (outside), 136 Woods, 185 Year, 260-261 Yes, 98 Yonder, 62, 64, 113, 130, 165, 222
SERMO
POPULI1
A NOTE ON LANGUAGE STUDY
I
WISH I could agree with the assertion made recently that the American methods of teaching foreign languages are superior to those used in Europe. A statement of this sort must be judged not by a study of methodology, which is quite a fetish in this country, but rather by the results attained. After twelve years of service as American Minister in Europe I can state from my own experience that foreign students of most European nationalities who have studied English exclusively in their own schools, emerge from their classes with a practical speaking and writing knowledge of our language, which is far more extensive than that obtained by students of foreign languages in our schools and universities. Here as in Europe the student is taught the fundamental principles of the grammar and is carefully drilled in idiomatic usage, but there the similarity of method apparently ceases. The European learner is trained ad nauseam to use the foreign language in connection with every ordinary subject; and moreover if the student is planning a technical career, such for example as that of a machinist, a careful drill is given in the necessary vocabulary. The American student on the other hand is assiduously exercised in purely literary reading and retranslation, but far too often without sufficient oral drill in the ordinary topics of conversation, politics, current events, the language of the restaurant, railway, and customhouse. Many an American student of French or Ger1
Reprinted from The Independent Journal of Columbia University, IV (Dec. 18 1936), 1, 3.
208
S E R M O POP U L I
man who knows these languages well is almost as helpless a traveler as if he had not studied them at all. This is rarely the case with a foreigner trained abroad in English. Of course some extenuation is due the American student, who has resided most of his life in the United States, because unless he makes special efforts to find company which speaks the language of his quest, he hears only English about him and his school-acquired knowledge necessarily tends to fade. On the other hand the European student of English usually has countless opportunities to hear it and make use of it. It might be contended in defense of the American method that the purpose of American instruction is different from that of the European schools, whose primary aim is to teach languages for practical use, while here the aim is more academic and cultural. In my opinion this is only half doing a thing. No amount of literary knowledge alone can make the student familiar with the genius and spirit of the language he is learning. I am frequently asked how one should learn a living language. The first prerequisite is that the student shall have not only a knowledge of the principles of general grammar, but that he shall develop the "grammatical sense," that is, first have a thorough insight into the fundamentals of his own language. The second necessity is that a real and persevering interest must be felt. Without these qualifications, I should advise no one to begin foreign language study, which will result only in a waning interest and ultimate dropping of the subject. My own method is as follows: beginning a new language I first thoroughly familiarize myself with the main principles of its machinery, that is of its grammar, using as small a vocabulary as possible which shall serve as paradigms of morphology. When I feel sufficiently equipped on this basis, I then get my teacher and proceed slowly at first to acquire vocabulary on the topics which seem most necessary to me. Simultaneously, I begin to read simple foreign newspaper articles on subjects and news with which I am
SERMO
POPULI
209
already acquainted, proceeding to more difficult matter in due time. This can be done with the teacher's aid, who reads aloud to me in his or her language what I have already studied. In a very short time, usually not more than six months of intermittent work, I find myself one day using the language quite fluently. I find that better memory results can be obtained if the work is not too intensive. Incidentally, it should be noted that at the outset a woman teacher is better than the average man, because women generally speak much faster than men and if one can understand the average woman talking at her natural speed, it will be easy to understand any male speaker later on. Then, and not until then, I begin to read literature and scientific articles, noting special expressions alphabetically on cards. In this way I have acquired a more or less satisfactory practical knowledge of eight languages and a secondary acquaintance with other related idioms. For example, if one knows Italian thoroughly, it is not difficult to understand and even speak Spanish and Portuguese. Similarly a well-grounded knowledge of one Slavonic language, such as Russian or Polish, enables the intelligent student to read, after learning the different orthographies, all the other variants of this closely related group. Finally, I call attention to the fact that the method I use is precisely the converse of that usually employed in American teaching—that is, I begin with the thorough knowledge of the easy and practical and then work back to the higher literary style, which is always the development of the language of the people. "Sermo quotidianus declarat animam populi."
CONGRATULATORY
LETTERS
LETTER FROM THE HON. CHARLES E. HUGHES, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES WASHINGTON, D . MARCH 2 8 ,
C.
1938.
My dear Professor Prince: I am glad to have a share in the tribute to you on your seventieth birthday. I recall with pleasure the great success which attended your service as Minister to Denmark while I was at the Department of State. Your linguistic abilities gave that service a signal distinction. You were able to make many addresses in Danish and to prepare articles for Danish and other scientific societies as a result of your important linguistic studies. I am informed that on one occasion you spoke by radio to Iceland in the Icelandic tongue. Your mission was most acceptable to the people of Denmark and strengthened our ties of friendship and good will. I understand that your later mission to Yugoslavia was also highly successful. I join most heartily in the felicitations of this occasion and in the hope that you will have many years of continued vigor. With assurance of my high esteem, I am, Very sincerely yours, CHARLES E .
HUGHES
LETTER FROM THE HON. HENRY L. STIMSON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES THIRTY-TWO LIBERTY STREET N E W YORK APRIL 9 ,
1938.
My dear Mrs. Prince: I am very happy indeed to write a few lines about your husband's diplomatic service and at the same time to send him my best wishes on his seventieth birthday.
212
CONGRATULATORY
LETTERS
The portion of his diplomatic service which was rendered during my own service in the State Department took place in Yugoslavia. One of the most important and useful accomplishments which an American minister to a foreign country can have is of course the ability to converse in their own language with the people to whom he is accredited. And as American candidates for diplomatic office are not always accomplished linguists, it often happens that an American ambassador or minister has no fluency in the language of his hosts even when they use only one language, and that a general and familiar one. But in Yugoslavia there existed the very unusual and difficult situation that the population was divided into at least three different racial stocks who spoke three quite distinct and, to an American, very unusual languages. Very few American candidates for ministers could be found who would be acquainted with even one of those languages, let alone all three. But your husband was probably one of the most accomplished linguists who ever served the United States Department abroad, and he possessed the extraordinary ability to talk with the people to whom he was accredited in each one of the three different languages which they used. As a result, there are numerous records now in the files of the State Department of addresses which he delivered before learned bodies in Yugoslavia in Serbian, Croatian, and Slovene, and his power to perform such an accomplishment was undoubtedly very helpful in promoting the good relations between America and Yugoslavia. In one of the reports of his service which was made to me through official channels, I find the following notation pointing out the importance of his service in this respect: Dr. Prince has made a rather unusual place for himself in Yugoslavia and is in a position to render excellent service in the protection and advancement of American interests there. He is peculiarly fitted for his present work owing to his truly extraordinary knowledge of Slavic languages.
So I think it is fair to say that your husband represents one of those rather rare cases in American public service where a scholar, distinguished in a peculiar and extraordinary accomplishment, could be brought to special and most useful public service to his country. I congratulate him that he was able to find during his life's work such an appropriate niche for his qualifications and that now, after having rendered worthy service to his country therein, he has reached a time and position where he can look back on it with full satisfaction. Believe me, with sincere personal regards, Very cordially yours, H E N R Y L . STIMSON
CONGRATULATORY
LETTERS
213
LETTER FROM T H E HON. JOSEPH S. FRELINGHUYSEN, FORMER U N I T E D STATES SENATOR FROM NEW JERSEY 1 1 1 WILLIAM NEW
STREET
YORK
APRIL 21,
1938
My dear Dyneley, I want to write a letter congratulating you as you celebrate the seventieth anniversary of your birthday. When I look back on our long years of association and friendship I realize what an active and useful life you have led in your educational and public career, and how much your efforts have contributed to the general welfare in New Jersey and in the nation. When you entered politics, coming after a term as President of the School Board of Passaic County, we became friends—you in the Assembly and I in the State Senate. You were elected Speaker of the House of Assembly and there, as presiding officer, showed an efficiency in legislation that was marked; and then, as Majority Leader of the Senate, and in 1912 its president—acting as governor during Governor Wilson's absence—you assisted in much of the progressive legislation that was passed during those active years, legislation that stabilized the finances of the State, established an efficient school system in the State of New Jersey and many other enactments which were of benefit to the state. You then served the Civil Service Commission from 1917 to 1921, becoming president of it and then, due to my knowledge of your great attainments and your desire for a broader field, I recommended you to President Harding for the Diplomatic Service and he appointed you as Minister to Denmark and then later President Coolidge sent you to Jugoslavia and President Hoover retained you there. You served the United States with great ability during a very troublesome and trying period in the days after the World War. I shall never forget my visit to the United States Legation at Copenhagen and the great courtesy extended to Mrs. Frelinghuysen and myself by you and Mrs. Prince. I remember with a great deal of pleasure my introduction to the King of Denmark and the pleasant social activities with Admiral Andrews of the China Squadron. During my service as United States Senator, those who visited you at your post always referred to the great courtesy that you extended to the representatives of the United States, Congressmen and Senators,
214
CONGRATULATORY
LETTERS
and those who have been Secretary of State during your service always referred to the satisfactory manner in which you handled the diplomatic affairs of government at the posts in which you served. It is, however, to the personal side in these latter years of our friendship that I want to refer. With your knowledge of languages, in the many contests that I had in New Jersey you were always ready to speak for the Republican Party and its candidates anywhere at any time, bringing to those of foreign birth and tongue the issues in the campaign so clearly that the influence of your logical explanation to our adopted citizens was always felt in the elections. Your great sense of humor, your love of the finer things, music and the arts, and your great intellect always afforded to those who came in contact with you the great enjoyment of your wonderful expression and sympathetic understanding. All of these fine things are said not because I desire to over exaggerate but because they are true. But the finest thing in my friendship for you is the deep devotion of the long relationship, unbroken by the slightest friction or irritation. May the years ahead of you be many, and happy ones too. Very sincerely yours, J . S. F r e l i n g h u y s e n
THE W O R K S JOHN
DYNELEY
OF PRINCE
BOOKS 1892. Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin. Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. 1899. A Critical Commentary on the Book of Daniel. Leipzig. 1902. With Charles Godfrey Leland. Kuloskap, the Master. Funk and Wagnalls, New York and London. 1905. Materials for a Sumerian Lexicon, 3 vols. J. C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig. 1909. Assyrian Primer. Columbia University Press, New York. 1919. Russian Grammar. Columbia University Press, New York. 1921. Passamaquoddy Indian Texts. "Publications of the American Ethnological Society." Vol. X. New York. 1921. A Practical Grammar of the Lettish Language. J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd. London. 1928. Grammaire pratique de la langue latvienne à l'usage des étudiants; avec un vocabulaire linguistique latvien-français. Riga, Section de la presse et Ministère des Affaires Etrangères de Lettonie. 1929. Practical Grammar of the Serbo-Croatian Language. Pub. National Press of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Belgrade. ARTICLES 1888. Notes on the Language of the Eastern Algonkin Tribes. Thesis for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, Columbia College. American Journal of Philology, IX, 310-316. 1891. The Linguistic Position of Turkish. Johns Hopkins University Circular, X, 80. Thanks are due to Professor C. A. Manning and Dr. A. P. Coleman for their assistance in the compilation of this list.
216
LIST
OF
WORKS
1892. Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin. Johns Hopkins University Circular. X I , 94-95. 1893. On the Writing on the Wall a t Belshazzar's Feast, Daniel V: 25. Proceedings of the American Oriental Society, XV, 182-189. 1895. T h e Syntax of the Assyrian Preposition Ina. Proceedings of the American Oriental Society, April, XVI, 218-226. 1895. The Book of Psalms. English Translation of Wellhausen's Notes in the Polychrome Edition of the Old Testament. Leipzig. 1897. The Passamaquoddy Wampum Records. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, X X X V I , 479-495. 1897. Old Testament Notes. Journal of Biblical Literature, XVI, 175-177. 1897. The Syntax of the Assyrian Preposition Ana. Journal of the American Oriental Society, X V I I I , 355-360. 1898. Some Passamaquoddy Documents. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, X I , 369-377. 1898. On Daniel VIII, 11-12. Journal of Biblical Literature, X V I I , 203204. 1899. Assyrian Prepositional Usage. Journal of the American Oriental Society, X X , 1-11. 1900. On Psalm I I : 11, 12-17 and on Isaiah 44: 14. Journal of Biblical Literature, X I X , l ^ t . 1900. Some Forgotten Indian Place Names in the Adirondacks. Journal American Foik-Lore, 123-128. 1900. Some Passamaquoddy Witchcraft Tales. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, X X X V I I I , 181-189. 1900. The Unilingual Inscriptions K 138 and K 3232. Translated from the Sumerian. Journal of the American Oriental Society, X X I , 1-22.
1901. Notes on Passamaquoddy Literature. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, X I I I , 381-386. 1901. Notes on the Modern Minsi Delaware Dialect. American Journal of Philology, X X I , 295-302. 1901. The Modern Dialect of the Canadian Abenakis. Miscellanea Linguistica in Onore di Graziodio Ascoli, 343-362. 1902. A Modern Delaware Tale. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, X L I , 20-34. 1902. T h e Differentiation between the Penobscot and CanadianAbenaki Dialects. The American Anthropologist, IV, 17-32. 1902. Two Versions of the Coptic Psalter. American Journal of Biblical Literature, X X I , 92-99.
L I S T OF
WORKS
217
1902. Modern Pronunciation of Coptic in the Mass. Journal of the American Oriental Society, X X I I I , 289-306. 1902. Music. Encyclopedia Biblica, III, 3225-243. 1903. Review of Fossey's "Magie Assyrienne." American Journal oj Semitic Languages and Literature, XEX, April, 184-187. 1903. First and Second Persons in Sumerian. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, XIX, 203-277. 1903. Le Bouc émissaire chez les Babyloniens. Journal Asiatique, CLXIV, 133-156. 1903. The Name Chahnameed. Journal of American Folk-Lore, XVI, 107. 1903. The Modem Pequots and Their Language. The American Anthropologist, V, 193-212. 1903. Two Assyro-Babylonian Parallels to Daniel V: 5 ff. Journal of Biblical Literature, X X I I , 32-40. 1903. The Hymn to Bélit—K. 257. Journal of the American Oriental Society, X X I V , 103-128. 1904. The Vocabulary of Sumerian. Journal of the American Oriental Society, XXV, 49-67. 1904. The Assyro-Babylonian Scapegoat Controversy. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, XX, 173-181. 1904. Nisroch & Nusku. Journal of Biblical Literature, X X I I I , 68-76. 1904. With Frank Speck. Dying American Speech Echoes from Connecticut. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, XLII, 346-352. 1904. Glossary of the Modern Mohegan Pequot Language. The American Anthropologist, VI, 18-45. 1904. The Algonkin Noun. Proceedings of the Congress of Orientalists, Rome. 1905. With Robert Lau. An Ancient Babylonian Axe Head. Bulletin of the American Museum of National History, XXI, 49-52. 1905. The Pierpont Morgan Babylonian Axe Head. Journal of the American Oriental Society, XXVI, 93-97. 1905. The God-Name Ninib. Journal of Biblical Literature, XXIV, 54. 1905. A Tale in the Hudson River Indian Language. The American Anthropologist, VII, 77-84. 1906. Note on Akkad. Journal of Biblical Literature, XXV, 55-57. 1907. The English-Rommany Jargon of the American Roads. Journal of the American Oriental Society, XXVIII, 271-308. 1907. A Hymn to Nergal. Journal of the American Oriental Society, XXVIII, 168-182.
218
LIST
OF
WORKS
1907. Sumerian as a Language. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, X X I I I , 202-219. 1907. A Hymn to the Goddess Bau. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, X X I V , 62-75. 1907. A Study of the Assyro-Babylonian Words Relating to Sacrifice. Journal of Biblical Literature, X X V I , 54-69. 1907. Algonquins. Hasting's Dictionary of Religions, I, 319-321. 1907. Note sur le nom Gilgamesh. Babyloniaca, I I , 62-64. 1907. Last Living Echoes of the Natick. The American Anthropologist, I X , 493-498. 1907. Scribes and Pharisees. Encyclopedia Biblica, IV, 4321-4332. 1908. The Verbal Prefixes and Infixes in Sumerian. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, X X I V , 354-365. 1908. A Micmac Manuscript. International Congress of Americanists at Quebec, 15 Session, pp. 87-124. 1909. A Passamaquoddy Aviator. The American Anthropologist, X I , 628-650. 1909. A Hymn to Tammuz. Journal of the American Oriental Society, XXX, 94-100. 1910. With F. A. Vanderburgh. A Composite Bau Text. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, X X V I , 137-150. 1910. The New Hilprecht Deluge Tablet. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, X X V I , 84-89. 1910. A Hymn to Tammuz. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, X X V I I , 84-89. 1910. Akkad. Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., I, 457. 1910. Assur. Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., I I , 787. 1910. Daniel. Encyclopedia Britannica, Uth ed., VII, 804. 1910. Sumer & Sumerian. Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., X X V I , 74. 1910. A Hymn to Kir-Gi-Lu. Journal of the American Oriental Society, X X X , 325-335. 1910. The Education of the Assyro-Babylonians. Encyclopedia of Education, I, 251-254. 1910. The Name Hammurabi. Journal of Biblical Literature, X X I X , 21-23. 1910. The Jersey Dutch Dialect. Dialect Notes, I I I , 459-484. 1910. The Penobscot Language of Maine. The American Anthropologist, X I I , 183-208. 1911. Review of First Grammar of the Language Spoken by the Bontoc Igorot, by Seidenadel. The Monist, X X I , 470-475.
L I S T OF
WORKS
219
1911. A Divine Lament. Journal of the American Oriental Society, X X X I , 395-402. 1911. Certain Grammatical Phenomena in Sumerian. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, XXVII, 328-330. 1911. Review of Radau's Miscellaneous Sumerian Texts from the Temple Library at Nippur, Leipzig, 1909. American Journal of Semitic Languages and. Literature, XXVII, 343-346. 1911. Review of S. H. Langdon's Sumerian Grammar and Chrestomathy. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, X X X V I I I , 66-77. 1912. Prolegomena to the Study of the San Bias Indian Language. The American Anthropologist, XIV, 109-126. 1912. An Ancient New Jersey Indian Jargon. The American Anthropologist, XIV, 508-524. 1913. Tig-En-Na. Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, XXVII, 258-260. 1913. An Akkadian Cruciform Monument. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, X X I X , 95-110. 1913. A Political Hymn to Shaenesh. Journal of the American Oriental Society, X X X I I , 10-15. 1913. God (Assyro-Babylonian). Hasting's Dictionary of Religions, VI, 250-252. 1913. Ichabod. Journal of Biblical Literature, X X X I I , 151-154. 1913. The God-Name Zaqqar. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, X X I X , 284-287. 1913. A Text in the Indian Language of Panama-Darien. The American Anthropologist, XV, 298-326. 1913. A Tammuz Fragment. Journal of the American Oriental Society, X X X I I I , 345-348. 1913. A Text in Jersey Dutch, Overgedr. uit het Tijdschr v. Ned. Taal-en Letterk., X X X I I , 306-312. 1913. A Grammar and Glossary of the Tule Language of Panama. The American Anthropologist, XV, 480-528. 1914. Tik in Sumerian. Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, XXVIII, 362-364. 1914. The Babylonian Equations for Syria. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, X X X , 212-219. 1914. The Morphology of the Passamaquoddy Language of Maine. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, LIII, 92-117. 1914. Review of Delitsch's Sumerian Grammar. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, X X X I , 67-78. 1914. Note on Vashti. Journal of Biblical Literature, X X X I , 87-90.
220
L I S T OF
WORKS
1915. Delitsch's "Sumerisches Glossar." American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, XXXI, 160-167. 1915. Striking Phenomena of Sumerian. Journal of the American Oriental Society, XXXIV, 321-328. 1915. The Pronouns and Verbs of Sumerian. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, LIV, 27-46. 1915. A New Samas-sum-ukin Series. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, XXXI, 256-270. 1915. The Hittite Material in the Cuneiform Inscriptions. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, XXII, 38-63. 1915. The Slavs. Texas Review, I, 136-143. 1916. The Russian Language in America. The Russian Review, I, 77-79. 1916. Music (Mohammedan). Hasting's Dictionary of Religions, IX, 53-57. 1916. The Pan-Slavonic Ideal. The Canadian Magazine, XLVII, 15-18. 1916. How to Learn the Russian Language. Russia—June, 1916, 7-12. 1916. The So-called Epic of Paradise. Journal of the American Oriental Society, XXXVI, 90-114. 1916. A Rare Old Slavonic Religious Manual. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, LV, 357-362. 1916. A Hymn to Nin-Ka-Si. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature, XXIII, 40-44. 1917. The Names Troyan and Boyan in Old Russian. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, LVI, 161-170. 1917. A Passamaquoddy Tobacco Famine. International Journal of American Linguistics, I, 58-63. 1917. The Dawn of a New Day. The New Armenia, IX, No. 7. 1917. Russia and America. The Russian Empire, I, 2-4. 1919. Tatar Material in Old Russia. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, LVIII, 74-88. 1919. Note on Leprosy in the Old Testament. Journal of Biblical Literature, XXXVIII, 30-34. 1919. Phonetic Relations in Sumerian. Journal of the American Oriental Society, XXXIX, 265-279. 1920. Slav and Celt. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, LVIII, 184-193. 1920. A Possible Sumerian Original of the Name Nimrod. Journal of the American Oriental Society, XL, 201-203. 1920. Accent Shifts in Russian Nouns. Publication of the Slavonic Department of Columbia University, 14.
L I S T OF
WORKS
221
1920. Passamaquoddy-Malecite Dictionary in MSS. 277 typed pp. 1921. Possible Non-Aryan Elements in Hittite. Journal of the American Oriental Society, XLI, 210-234. 1921. The Study of Language, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, LX. 1921. Passamaquoddy Indian Texts, The American Museum of Natural History, Publication Society. 1923. Phonetic Possibilities in Sumerian. Acta Orientalia (Leyden), II, 63-76. 1923. The Faeroe Language. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, LXI, 151-166. 1924. Is There an American Language? Gad's Danske Magazin (Copenhagen), XVI, 65-74. 1924. Personal Pronominal Elements in Sumerian. Acta Orientalia (Leyden), III, 154-160. 1924. Etymological Note on Kobieta, Kobyla, Kobel. Slavia, II, 638-640. 1924. The Danish Dialect of Bornholm. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, LXIII, 190-207. 1924. The Possibility of an International Language. Gad's Danske Magazine (Copenhagen), XVI, 129-140. 1926. The Elements of the Plural in Aumerian. Acta Orientalia, IV, 306310. 1926. The Gypsy Language of Denmark. Journal of the American Oriental Society, XLV, 97-105. 1926. What the World Owes the Celt. Gad's Danske Magazine (Copenhagen), XVIII, 129-138. 1926. The Sumerian Numerals. Wirtschrift fur Paul Haupt. Leipzig. 1927. The Idiom of Jutland. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, LXVI, 191-209. 1928. A Note on Kalmuks in Belgrade. The American Anthropologist, XXX, 341-345. 1929. A Brazilian Gypsy Dialect. Journal of the American Oriental Society, L, 139-143. 1930. Surviving Turkish Elements in Serbo-Croatian. Journal of the American Oriental Society, LI, 241-261. 1931. The Gottschee Germans of Slovenia. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, LXX, 391-398. 1932. Turkish Remains in Modern Belgrade. Richard Gottheil Memorial, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, L X X I I I , 331-340.
222
L I S T OF
WORKS
1934. Surinam Negro-English. American Speech, IX, 181-186. 1935. Slavonic Material in Hungarian. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, LXXV, 591-603. 1936. The Hungarian Language, The Hungarian Quarterly, II, 116-119. 1936. Turkic Material in Hungarian. Journal of the American Oriental Society, LVI, 446-452. 1936. Sermo Populi. The Independent Journal, IV (No. 5), 1-3. 1937. Small Nations and Small Languages. The Independent Journal, V (No. 1), 3, 4. 1938. How Language Dies. The Independent Journal, V (No. 10), 2-3. MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS "On the Road to Mandalay." Copyrighted 1894. Published by G. Schirmer, Inc., 1903. "The Musical setting authorized by Rudyard Kipling." "Strathcona's Horse." Words by Wm. H. Drummond. Published by Oliver Ditson Company, 1903. "The Yugoslav March." Played by the Royal's Guard Band. Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1932. "The Vision." Words and music copyrighted 1934.