Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/299

APP. NO. I.] GRAMMATICAL NOTICES. ARAUCANIAN. 263 The noun in the objective case often coalesces with the verb ; entun, 'to bring/ entuge, ' bring ' ; co,' water,' entucoge, ' bring water.' Verbs are also compounded from two verbs. But the various modifications, of which the action is susceptible, are more generally expressed by the numerous particles, either pre- fixed to the verb or inserted immediately after the root of the verb. Such are, among those which are prefixed, cupa, l will '; pepi, 1 may'; deu (from deuman, 'to finish,') finally, deumaimi, 'you have done eating '; entu, (from entun) answering to the insepa- rable un in English; petu, 'whilst'; quim (from quimn, 'to know,') unites with most verbs, and means ' to know how '; tude expresses doubt; vera, likeness ; uno, repetition, &c. A much greater number of similar particles are inserted, such as do, expressive of aid ; menculn, ' to load, ' mencuclovige, ' aid him to load.' The same particle do also means 'jointly '; conn, ' to go in'; condo, ' to thrust one's self in '; and from condo, and dugun, ' to speak,' is made duguconcloloquilmi pitthemegn, ' do not interfere speaking jointly with elder people,' (Joquil is the imperative negative, and mi the second person.) Hue means ' more '; yau, ' to go '; ue, ' strong assertion '; tu, ' reiteration '; vol, 'possibility'; rque, 'likeness'; re, 'pure, unmixed.' Whence the Araucanian calls himself (from die man) reche, 'a pure, unmixed man,' a designation identic with that assumed for their name by the Delawares. The Chilian will also call himself, as contradistinguished from a Spaniard, hunthu, ' man, ' ' male ' (yir). The particles added as a termination are also numerous, such as cam, ' contingency ': chum, asserts ; no, denies ; chey, and may, ' doubt and contingency ' ; pie, ' towards ' ; ula, ' until '; rume, ' though '; &c. As the tenses, transitions, &tc. are also expressed by particles inserted, the collocation of those various particles inserted for different purposes is one of the most difficult parts of the lan- guage. General rules are given for the most important cases ; many depend on usage. Prepositions, amounting to about thirty and many of which may also be used separately, may be united with the noun, be- ing sometimes prefixed and at other times added as a termina- tion. Conjunctions also are often thus united as terminations. The syntax is easy. The nominative may be placed before or after the verb ; the adjective always precedes the substan-