Laziness.
In order to place the substantives thus formed, in the third person, corresponding with the indicative from which they were changed, it is necessary only to prefix the proper pronoun. Thus, Ogeezhaiwâdizziwin, his generosity, &c.
7. Compound substantives. The preceding examples have been given promiscuously from the various classes of words, primitive and derivative, simple and compound. Some of these words express but a single idea, as, ôs, father—gah, mother—môz, a moose—kâg, a porcupine—mang, a loon—and appear to be incapable of further division. All such words may be considered as primitives, although some of them may be contractions of dissyllabic words. There are also a number of dissyllables, and possibly some trisyllables, which, in the present state of our analytical knowledge of the language, may be deemed both simple and primitive. Such are neebi, water; ossin, a stone; geezis, the sun; nodin, wind. But it may be premised, as a principle which our investigations have rendered probable, that all polysyllabic words, all words of three syllables, so far as examined, and most words of two syllables, are compounds.
The application of a syntax, formed with a view to facilitate the rapid conveyance of ideas by consolidation, may, it is presumable, have early led to the coalescence of words, by which all the relations of object and action, time and person, were expressed. And in a language which is only spoken, and not written, the primitives would soon become obscured and lost in the multiform appendages of time and person, and the recondite connexion of actor and object. And this process of amalgamation would be a progressive one. The terms that sufficed in the condition of the simplest state of nature, or in a given latitude, would vary with their varying habits, institutions and migrations. The introduction of new objects and new ideas would require the invention of new words, or what is much more probable, existing terms would be modified or compounded to suit the occasion. No one who has paid much attention to the subject, can have escaped noticing a confirmation of this opinion, in the extreme readiness of our western Indians to bestow, on the instant, names, and appropriate names—to any new object presented to them. A readiness not attributable to their having at command a stock of generic polysyllables—for these it would be very awkward to wield—but as appears more probable, to the powers of the syntax, which permits the resolution of new compounds from existing roots, and often concentrates, as remarked in another place, the entire sense of the parent words, upon a single syllable, and sometimes upon a single letter.
Thus it is evident that the Chippewas possessed names for a living tree mittig, and a string aiâb, before they named the bow mittigwâb,—the latter being compounded under one of the simplest rules from the two former. It is further manifest that they had named earth akki, and (any solid, stony or metallic mass) âbik, before they bestowed an appellation upon the kettle, akkeek, or akkik, the latter being derivatives from the former. In process of time these compounds became the bases of other compounds, and thus the language became loaded with double and triple, and quadruple compounds, concrete in their meaning and formal in their utterance.
When the introduction of the metals took place, it became necessary to distinguish the clay from the iron pot, and the iron, from the copper kettle. The original compound, akkeek, retained its first meaning, admitting the adjective noun piwâbik (itself a compound) iron, when applied to a vessel of that kind, piwâbik akkeek, iron kettle. But a new combination took place to designate the copper kettle, miskwâkeek, red-metal kettle; and another expression to denote the brass kettle, ozawâbik akkeek, yellow metal kettle. The former is made up from miskôwâbik, copper (literally red-metal—from miskwâ, red, and âbik, the generic above mentioned) and akkeek, kettle. Ozawâbik, brass, is from ozawâ yellow, and the generic âbek—the term akkeek, being added in its separate form. It may, however, be used in its connected form of wukkeek, making the compound expression ozawâbik wukkeek.
In naming the horse paibâizhikôgazhi, i. e. the animal with solid hoofs, they have seized upon the feature which most strikingly distinguished the horse, from the cleft-footed animals which were the only species known to them at the period of the discovery. And the word itself affords an example, at once, both of their powers of concentration, and brief, yet accurate description, which it may be worth while to analyse. Paizhik, is one, and is also used as the indefinite article—the only article the language possesses. This word is further used in an adjective sense, figuratively indicating, united, solid, undivided. And it acquires a plural signification by doubling, or repeating the first syllable, with a slight variation of the second. Thus, Pai-baizhik, denotes not one, or an, but several; and when thus used in the context, renders the noun governed, plural. Oskuzh, is the nail, claw, or horny part of the foot of beasts, and supplies the first substantive member of the compound gauzh. The final vowel is from akwaisi, a beast; and the marked o, an inseparable connective, the office of which is to make the two members coalesce, and harmonize. The expression thus formed becomes a substantive, specific in its application. It may be rendered plural like the primitive nouns, may be converted into a verb, has its diminutive, derogative and local form, and in short, is subject to all the modifications of other substantives.
Most of the modern nouns are of this complex character. And they appear to have been invented to designate objects, many of which were necessarily unknown to the Indians in the primitive ages of their existence. Others, like their names for a copper-kettle and a horse, above mentioned, can date their origin no farther back than the period of the discovery. Of this number of nascent words, are most of their names for those distilled or artificial liquors, for which they are indebted to Europeans. Their name for water, neebi, for the fat of animals, weenin, for oil or grease, pimmidai, for broth, nâbôb, and for blood, miskwi, belong to a very remote era, although all but the first appear to be compounds. Their names for the tinctures or extracts derived from the forest, and used as dyes, or medicines, or merely as agreeable drinks, are mostly founded upon the basis of the word âbo, a liquid, although this word is never used alone. Thus—
| Shomin-âbo | Wine | From Shomin, a grape, âbo, a liquor. |
| Ishkodai-âbo | Spirits | From Ishkôdâi, fire, &c. |
| Mishimin-âbo | Cider | From Mishimin, an apple, &c. |
| Tôtôsh-âbo | Milk | From Tôtôsh, the female breast, &c. |
| Sheew-âbo | Vinegar | From Sheewun, sour, &c. |
| Annibeesh-âbo | From Annibeeshun, leaves, &c. | |
| Ozhibiegun-aubo | From Ozhibiêgai, he writes, &c. |
In like manner their names for the various implements and utensils of civilized life, are based upon the word Jeegun, one of those primitives, which, although never disjunctively used, denotes, in its modified forms, the various senses implied by our words instrument, contrivance, machine, &c. And by prefixing to this generic, a substantive, verb, or adjective, or parts of one or each, an entire new class of words is formed. In these combinations, the vowels e, and o, are sometimes used as connectives.
| Keeshkeebô-jeegun |
|