Page:The History of the American Indians.djvu/52

 40 On the defcent of the American Indians from the Jews.

The Hebrew language frequently ufes hyperboles, or magnifying num bers, to denote a long fpace of time : the Indians, accordingly, apply the words, Neetak akroobab, " all days," or, in other words, " for ever," to a long feries of years. With the Jews, fitting, fignined dwelling ; and, with the Indians, it is the very fame-, for, when they afk a peribn where he dwells, they fay, Katemuk IJhbenede (chuak .?), which is literally, " where do you fit ? " And when they call us irreligious, they fay Nana U-bat, " No thing" or literally, " a relation to nothing ;" for Nana fignifies a relation : and the other is always a negative adverbial period ; which feems alfo to proceed from a religious cuftom of the Hebrews, in giving defpicable bor rowed names to idols ; as to D^JO, Baalim, " Particles of air," meaning, no thing. To which the Pfalmift alludes, faying, " I will not take up their names in my lips." And St. Paul fays, " We know that an idol is nothing." This exprefiion the Indians apply, in a pointed metaphor, to the white peo ple, but never to each other.

Like the Hebrews, they feldom, if ever, double the liquid confonant R ; for they generally feem defirous of muffling over it, at any rate : And they often give it the found of L, but, if it precedes a word, where the other confonant foon follows, they always give it its proper found, contrary to the ufage of the Chinefe : as the name of a ftone, they often call, Tak/e^ inftead of Tahre, but the Indians fay, " Tahre lakkana, literally, " Yellow ftone," /'. e. gold.

The Hebrews fubjoined one of their ferviles, to words, to exprefs the pronoun relative, thy or thine: And as that particle was alfo a note of re- femblance, it Ihews the great flerility of that language. As a fpecimen They faid "plN, (Abiche) " your father," and -pN, (Ameche) " Your mother," &c. Only that the Hebrew period is initial, in fuch a cafe, to the Indian nouns, they always ufe the very fame method of expreflion. This I (hall illuftrate with two words in the dialects of the Chikkafah and Chee- rake as Chinge and Cbatokta, " your father ;" Angge and Aketchta figni- fying " my father," in relemblance of IK, Abba, of the fame import j like- wife Chijhke and Chacheeah, " your mother ;" for Sa/ke and Akachee fignify Cbijh Ki/b, podcx tuns, and Kijb Kijh, podex illius ; which I guefs to be an
 * ' my mother," in imitation of rftPH, A/he. Alfo SasKijh fignifies podex meus,

opprobrious

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