The group of words belonging to the closed lips, of which mum, mumming, mumble are among the many forms belonging to European languages,[1] are worked out in like manner among the lower races — Vei mu mu 'dumb'; Mpongwe imamu 'dumb'; Zulu momata (from moma, 'a motion with the mouth as in mumbling') 'to move the mouth or lips,' mumata 'to close the lips as with a mouthful of water,' mumuta, mumuza 'to eat mouthfuls of corn, &c., with the lips shut;' Tahitian mamu 'to be silent,' omumu 'to murmur;' Fijian, nomo, nomo-nomo 'to be silent;' Chilian, ñomn 'to be silent;' Quiché, mem 'mute,' whence memer 'to become mute;' Quichua, amu 'dumb, silent,' amullini 'to have something in the mouth,' amullayacuni simicta 'to mutter, to grumble.' The group represented by Sanskrit t'hût'hû 'the sound of spitting,' Persian thu kerdan (make thu) 'to spit,' Greek (
Greek characters), may be compared with Chinook mamook toh, tooh, (make toh, tooh); Chilian tuvcùtun (make tuv); Tahitian tutua; Galla twu; Yoruba tu. Among the Sanskrit verb-roots, none carries its imitative nature more plainly than kshu 'to sneeze;' the following analogous forms are from South America: — Chilian, echiun; Quichua, achhini; and from various languages of Brazilian tribes, techa-ai, haitschu, atchian, natschun, aritischune, &c. Another imitative verb is well shown in the Negro-English dialect of Surinam, njam 'to eat' (pron. nyam), njam-njam 'food' ('en hem njanjam ben de sprinkhan nanga boesi-honi' — 'and his meat was locusts and wild honey'). In Australia the imitative verb 'to eat' reappears as g'nam-ang. In Africa the Susu language has nimnim, 'to taste,' and a similar formation is observed in the Zulu nambita 'to smack the lips after eating or tasting, and thence to be tasteful, to be pleasant to the mind.' This is an excellent instance of the transition of mere imitative sound to the expression of mental emotion, and it corresponds with the imitative way in which the Yakama language, in speaking of little children
- ↑ See Wedgwood, Dic., s.v. 'mum,' &c.
