CHAPTER III.

OF THE NOUNS.

CLASSES OF NOUNS IN RESPECT TO ORIGIN.

Nouns in Maori may be comprised under three classes, _primitive_ and _derivative_, and _verbal_.[8]

(a.) _Nouns primitive_ are those which designate _animals_, _plants_, _numbers_, _members_ of the animal body, some of the _great objects of the natural world_.

N.B.--It is often impossible to distinguish between primitive and derivative nouns.

(b.) _Nouns derivative_, which are altogether the most numerous, comprise,

1st. Nouns derived from verbs, i. e., the verb, in its simple form, used as a noun; e. g.,

He noho noa iho taku, _it is a simple sitting of mine_; _I have no fixed object in stopping_ (here.) He haere pai to haere? _Is your going a good going_, i. e., _are you going with good intent?_

(2.) Nouns derived from _adjectives_; e. g.,

He aha te _pai_ o tena mea? _what is the worth of that thing?_ Keihea te _pakaru_, _where is the broken place_?

(3.) Nouns derived from adverbs and prepositions, e. g.

He _kore_ rawa, _it is nil_. Engari a _reira_ e pai ana, _there_ (or that place) _is better_. Kua ki _a roto_, _the inside is full_. Parua _a tua_, _coat the other side_ (with raupo.)

(4.) _Compound Words._ These are always formed by two words placed in immediate juxta-position, without any elision of either; e. g.

Hia kai, (_desire food_) _hunger_; mate moe, (_craving sleep_), _sleepiness_; hoa riri, (_angry friend_), _enemy_; mahi atawhai, (_cherishing act_, _&c._) _a cherishing_, _&c._; kai whakaako, (_one that teaches_) _a teacher_; kai whakamarie, (_one that pacifies_) _a pacifier_; tangata atua, _a man having a God_; tangata pakeha, _a man having a European to live with him_; he hunga kainga, _a people having a place to reside on_; ahu taonga (_bent on gain_) _avariciousness_; ahu whenua, (_having the mind occupied with the earth_) _industriousness_, or _peaceableness_; whenua rangatira, (_a noble land, not disturbed by invasions_) _peace_; houhanga rongo, _making peace_; ngakau whakakake, _pride_; he whare kore, (_a no house_) _homelessness_; he horoi kore (_a no soap_) _soaplessness_; whakaaro kore, _thoughtlessness_, _&c_.

(c.) Verbal nouns are well worthy of the attention of the critical student. They are of very extensive uses in Maori, and a proper introduction of them will give animation and elegance to the sentence. The rules for their formation will be found hereafter. See verbs.

They are generally employed to denote _time_, _place_, _object_, _means_, or some _accompaniment_ on, or _relation_ of the _act_, or _quality_ of the ground form.--Other uses of them will be mentioned in the syntax.

To set forth the various uses of the verbal noun here would carry us beyond our limits. We shall therefore only give a few examples;--sufficient, however, we trust to lead the critical student into more extensive inquiry;

Ko tona moenga tena, _that is where he slept_. Te pumautanga o te Whakaaro, _the full assurance of hope_; te whakangarungarunga o te wai, _the troubling of the water_. Te peheatenga i meatia ai, _the manner in which it was done_. Te patunga poaka, _the place where the pigs are killed_. Kahore aku kete kumara hei whakahokinga atu mo to puka, _I have no basket of kumara with which to send back_, (_i. e._, _to pay for the loan of_) _your spade_. I te hanganga o te ao, _when the world was made_. I ana inoinga, _in his prayers_, (_i. e._, _when he prayed_.) Ko tona kiteatanga tenei, _this is the opportunity for looking for, or seeing, it_. To tatou nuinga, _the rest of our party_. I taku oranga, _while I live_.

NOTE.--Instances will sometimes occur in which the simple root, or the verbal form, may be indifferently used in the sentence. The critical student, however, will generally be able to see the reason; e. g., te _here_ o tona hu, _the thong of his shoe_; te _herenga_ o tona hu, _the holes, &c., by which the thong is fastened_.

PROPER NAMES should, perhaps, have been classed under the head of _derivative nouns_.

They are epithets arbitrarily assumed, as among the Hebrews, from some _circumstance, quality, act, or thing_. Sometimes they are simple; e. g., ko te Tawa, _Tawa_ (_a tree_). Sometimes compound; e. g., Tangikai, _cry for food_. They are generally known by _a_ prefixed; when _a_ is not prefixed, by the context.

NOTE.--Sometimes we meet with English appellatives employed as appellatives in Maori, but with the form peculiar to proper names; e. g., a mata, _the mistress_; a pepi, _the baby_; a tekawana, _the governor_. These, however, must be regarded as solecisms, and as in no way supported by Maori analogy.[9]

We sometimes also meet with a Maori proper name employed as an appellative; i. e., If an individual of a particular district has been remarkable for any quality, his name will often be predicated of any other in whom the same feature of character is discernible: thus, Ropeti, of Waikato, was remarkable for making a great show of hospitality:--hence, to any person else who has been detected acting in a similar way, it will be said, Ko Ropeti, There is Ropeti.

As all these terms are necessarily limited in their use to a particular district, we need not notice them further.

OF GENDER, NUMBER, AND CASE.

Maori, we may premise, admits of no such thing as declension by inflection, i. e., by a variation of the ground form. All the relations, it is capable of expressing, are denoted by words, or particles, _pre_fixed or _post_-fixed to the noun.

GENDER OF NOUNS.--Distinctions of gender are but seldom recognized in Maori. Only two are ever noticed, viz., the _masculine_ and _feminine_. These are always expressed by different words, e. g.

MALE. | FEMALE. Matua } | or } _father_. | Whaea, _mother_. Papa } | Tamaiti } | Tamahine } or } _son_. | or } _daughter_. Tamaroa } | Kotiro } Tungane, _brother of a female_. | Tuahine, _sister of a man_. Autane, _brother-in-law of a female_.| Auwahine, _sister-in-law | of the man_. Tangata, _man_. | Wahine, _woman_. Koroheke, _old man_. | Ruruhi, _old woman_. Tourahi and Toa, _male of brute | Uwha, _female of brutes_. animals_. | Tane, _a male, mostly of the human | Wahine, _female_. species_. |

In salutation, the sex of the person is almost always denoted by the address, e. g.,

_To the man._ _To the female._ E hoa, _friend!_ { E kui } E pa, ---- { } _to the married woman_. E mara, ---- { E tai } E koro, ---- E kara, ---- { E ko } E Ta, ---- { } _to the girl_. E Hika, ---- { E Hine }

NOTE 1.--It should, however, be noted that these modes of address will vary in different Districts. Thus in Waikato _E Tai_ and _E ko_ are often addressed to the male, and _E kui_ to the girl--again also, _tane_ and _wahine_ will be often found applied to the brute creation, and _tourahi_, in Waikato, is most frequently applied to the _gelding_.

NOTE 2.--The speaker should notice that the relationship of individuals of the same sex is designated by the same terms as the corresponding ones of the opposite sex; e. g.,

_John's_ | _Mary's_ | _elder brother_, is Tuakana. | _elder sister_, is Tuakana. | _younger brother_, teina. | _younger sister_, teina. | _brother-in-law_, taokete. | _sister-in-law_, taokete.

The distinction of sex in the other branches, is generally designated by tane and wahine postfixed to the relation; e. g.,

hunaonga wahine, _daughter-in-law_. hungawai tane, _father-in-law_.

NUMBER.--Substantives in Maori have _two_ numbers, singular and plural.

The _singular_ is known by the singular articles _te_, and _tetahi_, or by one of the singular pronouns connected with the noun; e. g.

Te whare o Hone, _the house of John_. Toku paraikete, _my blanket_.

The _plural_ is known by (1) _nga_, _e tahi_, or (2) one of the plural or dual pronouns preceding the noun; e. g.

_nga_ wahine, _the women_. _aku_ tupuna, _my forefathers_.

(3.) Sometimes the plural is designated by _o_, without _te_ preceding the noun; e. g.

kei _o_ Hone matua pea, _with John's uncles, perhaps_.

(4.) In a few cases we meet with an alteration in the ground form; e. g.,

Tamaiti, _son_; Tamariki, _sons, or children_.

(5.) In some trissyllables, the first syllable of the plural is pronounced long; as in matua, tupuna, wahine, tangata.

NOTE.--Examples of these two latter heads are not of frequent occurrence.

(6.) We frequently meet with _ma_ joined to the proper name, in a sense corresponding to hoi _amphi_, and hoi _peri_ in Greek, to denote _the person and his company_: e. g.,

Kei a Kukutai _ma_, _with Kukutai and his party_.

(7.) Sometimes also _ma_ is in the same sense postfixed to appellatives; e. g.,

E mara ma! E hoa ma! E ko ma!

(8.) Sometimes an _act oft repeated_, or many things of the _same kind_ are denoted by a reduplication of one or more syllables; e. g.,

Kakata, _a frequent laughing_. Mamahi, _over-work_. Kimokimo, _a winking of the eyes_.

CASE.--The distinction of case in Maori is exceedingly simple. As it is not the character of the language to decline either nouns or adjectives by a variation of the termination, it is evident that, in this respect, Maori is altogether different from Greek and Latin. Are we then to adopt the cases that those languages so clearly need? We are aware that some contend for them. But we are also assured that their adoption would be, not only useless but often exceedingly perplexing.

It is true that prepositions may be found in Maori, as well as in English, that correspond with the cases that are to be found in those languages. But that, we submit, is not the question. Our business, we conceive should be, to inquire how the dependence of words on each other is denoted in Maori, and then look out for a system that will meet, not a few selected cases, but all the various possible conditions.

Now, in Maori, the different connexions and relations of one thing to another are denoted by prepositions; there are upwards of twenty prepositions; and these are capable of being much increased in number by combination with each other; all having distinct meanings, different relations, and therefore distinct cases. Are all these then to be reduced to the six cases of Latin? Those who please may make the experiment with the following; kei runga i te pouaka, kei te kainga, ho atu ki a ia, me titiro atu ki a ia, patua ia ki te rakau, hei tua i te whare, &c.

The simple and comprehensive cases of Murray's English Grammar seem therefore the best adapted for Maori, though we will confess that our own judgment is against allowing any possessive case to Maori.

In English, it is true, that case may be recognised; because the ground form undergoes a change to denote it. Even in Hebrew, something analogous also might be admitted. But in Maori the possessive case is expressed, like all the other oblique cases, by a preposition. It may indeed be said, that in the pronouns we find a possessive formed by inflection. But this might justly be questioned: for it is very probable that _noku_, and _naku_, are compounds of no oku and na aku, and, when a native speaks slowly, it may be observed that he pronounces those words as if so spelt.

1. What is called the accusative case in Latin is most frequently denoted by _i_. This particle is different from the preposition _i_, and is only employed to denote the passing on of the action of the verb to the noun; e. g., Ko wai hei keri _i_ te mara? _who is to dig the field?_ (vid. prepositions _i_.)

2. The vocative case is always denoted by _e_; e. g., E Hone! _O John!_

[8] We are aware that _verbal_ nouns should properly have been classed under _derivative_; but as we shall often have to speak of them as a distinct class, and as moreover they closely resemble, in some respects, the participal form of the verb, and are very frequently used instead of the finite verb itself, we have consulted our convenience in thus distinguishing them.

[9] It is true, that we have mentioned (Chap. II. § 6 notes) a few cases which might seem to warrant such a use. But those clearly belong to a different class.