The mental picture is not of the dogs, but of the good dogs. The adjective denotes the picture; the noun the abstraction .
However, abler philologists should take up the subject. But the following list of names from some two hundred and fifty, taken by Miss Macbeth, may be an interesting beginning for study; or, perhaps, stir others to contribute names still extant among other tribes, with the meaning. The names are numbered according to Miss Macbeth' s list. She remarks that the names of women are taken mostly from inanimate objects, or the smaller animals; and the names of men from the larger beasts or birds. The prefix "Ah" is not necessarily the sign of the feminine, but refers more likely to Alalimya, the spirit of the wind, who reaches almost to the clouds, never rests, but moves to and fro and sighs in the trees, and sometimes weeps:—
NAMES.
- 3. Ah-la-lim-yah, Ah-la-lin-te-yukt—(fem.) Echo on the mountain.
- 6. Ah-la-yim-yah-tah-kas-min (masc.)—Filled with the spirit of the wind, when the wind becomes a whirlwind.
- 7. Ah-la-lim-yah-tan-my (fem.)—Sings together ; weeps together.
- 9. Ah-la-yim-ya-we-sun (fem.)—Always she weeps as the wind in dry forest trees.
- 12. Alew-ta-laket (fem.)—Going with heat of the chinook wind: goes to the mountains.
- 14. Alew-toe-tas-i-eye (fem.)—But a little light on the mountains.
- 13. Ah-leu-toe (fem.)—Daughter of Piles of Clouds. Aleyu Aleuya, signifying extreme cold; Toe, light on the top of the mountains.
- 16. Alew-yah-we-nun-my (fem.)—Now the chinook wind has sent all away.
- 18. Ah-lew-yet-kikt (masc.)—It snows in the spring.
- 19. Ah-lew-gone-my (fem.)—All covered with snow and ice.
- 28. Ah-na-wite (fem.)—See mud and water on the dress and am surprised.
- 37. Ah-pots-te-ya-la-ne (masc.)—The black stone crumbles down.
- 44. Ah-to-kah (fem.)—Come in.
- 47. Ah-we-yo-tson-my (fem.)—The echo of the feet.
