The word "Gunjúle" is an important contribution to linguistics, since it comprehends the imperative form of the copulative verb.[1]
The word "Diôsen" is evidently an innovation of Spanish origin, supplanting a former substantive like "Chídin". Taken in connection with "Shilá", we may make bold to translate it: "O! sacred ghosts of my fathers!"
"Anajále" is an abbreviation of "Ishanajále". "Tu—da" is equivalent to the French "ne—pas", but differs from it in being applicable to a negation of nouns, adjectives, and adverbs as well as verbs.
"Inguzân" is a compound of Injú (good) or Inchâ (great), and Guzân or Guzânutli (Earth), the Goddess—Earth—mother—adored by Apaches, Navajoes, Pueblos, and Indians formerly living in the Mississippi Valley.
"Ettégo" contains the word "Etté" do not, or "be sure not", and is a petition or supplication that a certain thing be not done.
The correct translation of this prayer would then seem to be:
"Be good (to me) O! Sun! Keep me from death (or harm). Be Good (to me) O! Sacred ghosts of my ancestors! Keep me from all danger, I implore. Protect me from sickness, be good (to me) O! Great (or Good) Mother—Earth! Keep me from harm! Be good (to me) O! ye winds! Keep me from harm! Keep me from chills and fever!"
j, in italics in Gunjúle, etc., has the pronunciation of the French j in jeune, jeunesse.
- ↑ The following remarks by an eminent scholar bear upon the point: "The complexity of the North American languages is, in a great measure, due to the absence of the copulative verb. The auxiliary verb 'to be' is entirely absent in most American languages, and the consequence is that they turn all their adjectives and nouns into verbs, and conjugate them through all the tenses, persons and moods." Gallatin, quoted by Lubbock, Origins of Civilisation, p. 279.
