Here the prefix tSe in HedarenSm is the sign of the
past.
A similar prefix is found in the participles of
verbs, and most generally is a relative mark, that
ia, implying who or whieh. From this I infer that
as nouns have the accident of tense as in the ex-
amples given above, they also had a participial
relative form, of which the phrases referred to are
instances.
5. The Obviative.
The obviative is an accident which affects nouns
of the noble class only, and these only in certain
situations in the phrase or sentence. For nouns
in the singular, it consists in putting r instead of
the k of their plural in conjugation ; and for nouns
in the plural, in dropping the final r from the ob-
viative of the singular. Examples will be given
with the situations referred to, which are : —

1. When nouns are connected with the third
personal 8, as in the conjugation of aremHs, 8(7 or-
emUsar, his dog ; Hd aremUsa, his dogs.
2. When the noun is the object of the action of



V Google



GRAMMATICAL SKETCH OF THE ABNAKI. 289
another noun of the noble class, as, to use Eale's



1. Ak'&irda\imr sa'6angan namesar, the eagle
swoops down upon a fish. Namesar is the ob-
viative singular from names. 2. Ed'6dermiaked Je-
8SS, >id ererman e'to angerm? does Jesus love the
angela so much as he loves us ? Here artgeria, from
angeri in the singular, is in the obviative plural.
