Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1862-10-04
No. %.
words in Greek, Latin and oil other languages with
which / am acquainted.

that these all, as it were random sounds having
no connection with the nature of the things which
singly, or in combination, they serve to denotes I
think not Everything, as il seems to me, must pro-
ceed from some cause and therefore everything even
the slightest breeze that blows, has q cause could we
only hnd out Take for instance. parcel of these
sylabes, say ma mi. no. ke. hi. Why should the one
be used instead Of The other What is there in no. why
it should be employed in any word rather than ma
Or let take collection of words in which an sylla-
be say mi, occurs and if discover ANYTHING
in them which makes it appropriate, and which would
render any other, say a, Ill ha &c. unfit for the pur-
pose. Here is short list. uni 'mi, rat-trap;
uni, nfantcide; 'um the number ten; 'emi' to les
SEM 'emiem in the New Zealand dialect. to assemble
'umki,' to wrinkle; 'umiumi, the beard 'mimlo'
Whirlpool 'omim, to wther; milo, to spin; mio, to
flow, as water through PASSAGE 'mihi to sgh
New Zealand, 'mhi, to repent; 'mimi to make water
'amiOmio, 10 be giddy, New Zealand antonio unset
tled Tahiti dialect, 'romirOm; rOmirOm tDhde from
approaching visitors, TD 'lomilomi to chae the limbs;
'mnominO rumped; 'milomilo to regard with curios-
ity, 'mnamina, to pity; 'umiumihahehahe, the white
bilOws Ofthe I'D; 'umiumihahehahe An undaunt-
ed warrior, L. d.
Now in reading this list is impossible to doubt
that there must be for the syllable mi enter
ing into all these words 1t is impossible TO conceive
that 1t is accident which has brought there Il
must, so to say, have inherent force of its own
which renders appropriate and would render other
syllabes less appropriate for the place Yet utter it
as often as will, and give it any infection can,
find nothing in its sound indicative of any sua-
blenes has for giving the meaning of any Of the
things actions which we know these several words
represent. Furthermore, the matter ACQUIRES ad-
ditona difficulty from the consideration that whatever
this appropriateness of the syllable mi for filing the
place holds in any one of these words may in
It must be a something adapting it TO them all and
yet the several things and actions represented bv the
words have written down would to have nothiug
in common. What for instance, have less apparent
eonnectun thaa rat-trap, nanticide and the number
ten
This is the problem which my theory, or system, or
what you like to call it, proposes attack and solve
| l repeat the main points in it:
!. When the syllable mi first uttered as q name
or any thing action Society in o very rude and
elementary condition; the perceptions of men were
formed from their immediate sensations and language
in its infancy
2 The voice was conceived Of as q current flowing
from the mouth, and capable of being bodied forth by
the sensible organs Of speech into this or that FORM
| g. These organs themselves being material and
exed into different shapes in uttering, attempting
to utter, different sounds might have anaoges thus
modified, this way or that, to material things and
| actions.
Now place yourself in this condition. Suppose your
language syllable and very meager and scanty that
you hear some one utter the syllable mi and, never
having heard this exact sound before, that you en-
deavOr to give utterance to yourself We may sepa-
rate the two letters and consider them apart that
the English (as in bee) takes for its uterance the
smallest opening of the mouth of any of the vowels
The stream of the voice is therefore confined. To give
the modification to this stream implied by the letter M
the lips first compressed through their whole ex
tent, and then slightly opened through that extent
allow the . to escape. You have thus broad. but
thin stream flowing through wide ori6ce whose sides
approach There is, therefore, nothing impossible in
the supp stion that the effort pronounce the sound
in question might be suggestive of that idea.
| Ii IS likely that the natural excavations would be
among the first things TO which would give names
shall, therefore, take the Poynesian word used to
express the vodng of urine the first example Sup
pose then, that IN the rudimenary state Of things
are considering, some one Imagining he has found o
proper term for the act, calls the attention Of another
it, utterng at the time the two syables mi mi
and that this other individual attempts to re- produce
and succeeds in re- producing, the sound. Would not
the two actions, the one which he performing by
means OF the organs Of Speech the other which he
looking, have certain resemblance to each other
Would they, in effect, have any essential difference,
but that in the one there aerial in the other
liquid stream? Is there anything, therefore, imposs-
bic the supposon that he might inStinctiyely feel
that the of the sound mi mi had in it some
certain appropriateness to the of urinatngs That
the uttering it had connection other unknown
probably to him, and which he would think of
ing OUT with the thing was, In short, fitting
for it, serving again hearing it, to recall the act
TO his memory Is not this supposiinn much strength
ened by the fact that this double syllable has, TRUTH
become the name for the thing in question islands
scattered for many thousands of miles over this ocean
that the syllable is found in other languages for
that evacuation in Sanscrit, 'mih : in Greek om-
chO; in Latin, 'mngo;' and that shall in vain search
for any other syllable the uterance of which produces in
the organs a movement having any, equal, analogy
to the things
proceed to the other words In these shall
simply point out the analogy. They are mostly COM
pounded with other syllables these will translate,
with critical accuracy but shortly BY the English
word coming nearest the idea.
First Is 'mio in which may be rendered on. The
lips here represented by rocks nearly meeting
and, pressing through them the stream flows on. A
correct enough representation this for mountan tor.
rent confined by rocks for which the word mio stands
2. 'Amio-is applied to denote current of air pass
ing through door, or between rocks with FORCE This
force is indicated by the prexed and the whole word
may be translated-s gust of wind.
8. 'AmiOmiO.-Subject to sudden quits Of passion -
Tahitian.
f. 'Amiomio' Nearly the same in n. L. dialect.
These two may be from ami, hinge; in this case
they may be translated essily-moved hither and
thther. Ami and its cOgnates have not put down.
8. 'Milo-To spin. In this the fingers take the
place Of lips, and the thread that of the slender cur
rent so is for long. II might coin a word. one
might say it mees' lOng-it is spun out long, This ac-
ton gives whiring movement to the thread, hence
the next.
g. 'Mimilo'-To whirl and
2. 'Mimilo-A whirlpool Here the meeting Of the
opposing takes the place of the lips or iugers
and the whirl that of the stream thread.
s. 'Umi, or mia rat-trap. Look at it Have
not its firmly closed serrated lips, which. however,
may be opened. analogy to the compressed human
lips as they prepare themselves to utter the mr The
Nctly. jutiing OUT when prefxed stands for the
othe s-t of the trap
9. kTen. Think of the mode iu which men, who
have no dtS mode Of reckoning but their fingers de-
note this number. With extended arms they first
stretch out all their dgits, and then suddenly close
them on the palms. The farmer action is the q, the
latter the mi
10. 'Umi'-Infauticide. This was generally done by
COMPRISING the windpipe with the fingers.
IL. 'Umumi-The beard. The Polynesians plucked
out by meaus Of two pieces Of SHE'LL used in the way
of pncers- These shells represent the mi, vix the
compressed lips; the the action Of applying them
From this daily pluck. pluck. pluckiug the thing
plucked, the besrd. doubtless received It's name
| II. .Umik'-To pinch: to stretch out the arm and