Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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I : Ure : Ure.
water : Tuna : Tuna.
rain : Conopo* : Canopo.* (* The same word, conopo,
signifies rain and year. The years
are counted by the number of winters,
or rainy seasons. They say in Chayma,
as in Sanscrit, 'so many rains,'
meaning so many years. In the Basque
language, the word urtea, year, is
derived from urten, to bring forth
leaves in spring.)
to know : Poturu : Puturo.
fire : Apoto : Uapto (in Caribbean uato).
the moon, a month : Nuna : Nuna.* (* In the Tamanac and Caribbean
languages, Nono signifies the earth,
Nuna the moon; as in the Chayma.
This affinity appears to me very
curious; and the Indians of the
Rio Caura say, that the moon is
'another earth.' Among savage nations,
amidst so many confused ideas, we find
certain reminiscences well worthy of
attention. Among the Greenlanders Nuna
signifies the earth, and Anoningat
the moon.)
a tree : Je : Jeje.
a house : Ata : Aute.
to you : Euya : Auya.
to you : Toya : Iteuya.
honey : Guane : Uane.
he has said it : Nacaramayre : Nacaramai.
a physician,
a sorcerer : Piache : Psiache.
one : Tibin : Obin (in Jaoi, Tewin).
two : Aco : Oco (in Caribbean, Occo).
two : Oroa : Orua (in Caribbean, Oroa).
flesh : Pun : Punu.
no (negation) : Pra : Pra.
The verb to be, is expressed in Chayma by az. On adding to the verb
the personal pronoun I (u from u-re), a g is placed, for the sake
of euphony, before the u, as in guaz, I am, properly g-u-az. As the
first person is known by an u, the second is designated by an m,
the third by an i; maz, thou art; muerepuec araquapemaz? why art
thou sad? properly what for sad thou art; punpuec topuchemaz, thou
art fat in body, properly flesh (pun) for (puec) fat (topuche) thou
art (maz). The possessive pronouns precede the substantive; upatay,
in my house, properly my house in. All the prepositions and the
negation pra are incorporated at the end, as in the Tamanac. They
say in Chayma, ipuec, with him, properly him with; euya, to thee,
or thee to; epuec charpe guaz, I am gay with thee, properly thee
with gay I am; ucarepra, not as I, properly I as not; quenpotupra
quoguaz, I do not know him, properly him knowing not I am; quenepra
quoguaz, I have not seen him, properly him seeing not I am. In the
Tamanac tongue, acurivane means beautiful, and acurivanepra,
ugly - not beautiful; outapra, there is no fish, properly fish none;
uteripipra, I will not go, properly I to go will not, composed of
uteri,* to go, ipiri, to choose, and pra, not. (* In Chayma:
utechire, I will go also, properly I (u) to go (the radical ute,
or, because of the preceding vowel, te) also (chere, or ere, or
ire). In utechire we find the Tamanac verb to go, uteri, of which
ute is also the radical, and ri the termination of the Infinitive.
In order to show that in Chayma chere or ere indicates the adverb
also, I shall cite from the fragment of a vocabulary in my
possession, u-chere, I also; nacaramayre, he said so also;
guarzazere, I carried also; charechere, to carry also. In the
Tamanac, as in the Chayma, chareri signifies to carry.) Among the
Caribbees, whose language also bears some relation to the Tamanac,
though infinitely less than the Chayma, the negation is expressed
by an m placed before the verb: amoyenlengati, it is very cold; and
mamoyenlengati, it is not very cold. In an analogous manner, the
particle mna added to the Tamanac verb, not at the end, but by
intercalation, gives it a negative sense, as taro, to say,
taromnar, not to say.
The verb to be, very irregular in all languages, is az or ats in
Chayma; and uochiri (in composition uac, uatscha) in Tamanac. It
serves not only to form the Passive, but it is added also, as by
agglutination, to the radical of attributive verbs, in a number of
tenses.* (* The present in the Tamanac, jarer-bae-ure, appears to
me nothing else then the verb bac, or uac (from uacschiri, to be ),
added to the radical to carry, jare (in the infinitive jareri), the
result of which is carrying to be I.) These agglutinations remind
us of the employment in the Sanscrit of the auxiliary verbs as and
bhu (asti and bhavati* (* In the branch of the Germanic languages
we find bhu under the forms bim, bist; as, in the forms vas, vast,
vesum (Bopp page 138).)); the Latin, of es and fu, or fus;* (*
Hence fu-ero; amav-issem; amav-eram; pos-sum (pot-sum).) the
Biscayan, of izan, ucan, and eguin. There are certain points in
which idioms the most dissimilar concur one with another. That
which is common in the intellectual organization of man is
reflected in the general structure of language; and every idiom,
however barbarous it may appear, discloses a regulating principle
which has presided at its formation.
The plural, in Tamanac, is indicated in seven different ways,
according to the termination of the substantive, or according as it
designates an animate or inanimate object.* (* Tamanacu, a Tamanac
(plur. Tamanakemi): Pongheme, a Spaniard (properly a man clothed);
Pongamo, Spaniards, or men clothed. The plural in cne characterizes
inanimate objects: for example, cene, a thing; cenecne, things:
jeje, a tree; jejecne, trees.) In Chayma the plural is formed as in
Caribbee, in on; teure, himself; teurecon, themselves; tanorocon,
those here; montaonocon, those below, supposing that the
interlocutor is speaking of a place where he was himself present;
miyonocon, those below, supposing he speaks of a place where he was
not present. The Chaymas have also the Castilian adverbs aqui and
alla, shades of difference which can be expressed only by
periphrasis, in the idioms of Germanic and Latin origin.
Some Indians, who were acquainted with Spanish, assured us, that
zis signified not only the sun, but also the Deity.
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