Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Following Are The Personal
Pronouns Of The Chaymas, Which Are At The Same Time Possessive
Pronouns; U-Re, I, Me; Eu-Re, Thou, Thee; Teu-Re, He, Him.
In the
Tamanac, u-re, I; amare or anja, thou; iteu-ja, he.
The radical of
the first and of third person is in the Chayma u and teu.* (* We
must not wonder at those roots which reduce themselves to a single
vowel. In a language of the Old Continent, the structure of which
is so artificially complicated, (the Biscayan,) the family name
Ugarte (between the waters) contains the u of ura (water) and arte
between. The g is added for the sake of euphony.) The same roots
are found in the Tamanac.
TABLE OF CHAYMA AND TAMANAC WORDS COMPARED:
COLUMN 1 : English.
COLUMN 2 : CHAYMA.
COLUMN 3 : TAMANAC.
I : Ure : Ure.
water : Tuna : Tuna.
rain : Conopo* : Canopo.* (* The same word, conopo,
signifies rain and year. The years
are counted by the number of winters,
or rainy seasons. They say in Chayma,
as in Sanscrit, 'so many rains,'
meaning so many years. In the Basque
language, the word urtea, year, is
derived from urten, to bring forth
leaves in spring.)
to know : Poturu : Puturo.
fire : Apoto : Uapto (in Caribbean uato).
the moon, a month : Nuna : Nuna.* (* In the Tamanac and Caribbean
languages, Nono signifies the earth,
Nuna the moon; as in the Chayma.
This affinity appears to me very
curious; and the Indians of the
Rio Caura say, that the moon is
'another earth.' Among savage nations,
amidst so many confused ideas, we find
certain reminiscences well worthy of
attention. Among the Greenlanders Nuna
signifies the earth, and Anoningat
the moon.)
a tree : Je : Jeje.
a house : Ata : Aute.
to you : Euya : Auya.
to you : Toya : Iteuya.
honey : Guane : Uane.
he has said it : Nacaramayre : Nacaramai.
a physician,
a sorcerer : Piache : Psiache.
one : Tibin : Obin (in Jaoi, Tewin).
two : Aco : Oco (in Caribbean, Occo).
two : Oroa : Orua (in Caribbean, Oroa).
flesh : Pun : Punu.
no (negation) : Pra : Pra.
The verb to be, is expressed in Chayma by az. On adding to the verb
the personal pronoun I (u from u-re), a g is placed, for the sake
of euphony, before the u, as in guaz, I am, properly g-u-az. As the
first person is known by an u, the second is designated by an m,
the third by an i; maz, thou art; muerepuec araquapemaz? why art
thou sad? properly what for sad thou art; punpuec topuchemaz, thou
art fat in body, properly flesh (pun) for (puec) fat (topuche) thou
art (maz). The possessive pronouns precede the substantive; upatay,
in my house, properly my house in. All the prepositions and the
negation pra are incorporated at the end, as in the Tamanac. They
say in Chayma, ipuec, with him, properly him with; euya, to thee,
or thee to; epuec charpe guaz, I am gay with thee, properly thee
with gay I am; ucarepra, not as I, properly I as not; quenpotupra
quoguaz, I do not know him, properly him knowing not I am; quenepra
quoguaz, I have not seen him, properly him seeing not I am.
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