Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - The origin of the Eskimo as traced by their language - New words needed by the Arctic settlers
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
or Western side of the American continent, or the Eastern of
the Asiatic (Siberia), and we had to suppose that the shores
traversed before reaching the arctic frontier had been found to
be uninhabited. It must be presumed that the acclimatisation
and adaptation of the newcomers to this arctic home extended
over centuries before any generally wide spread diffusion could
have taken place throughout the arctic regions. During such a
period the population must have necessarily multiplied and
increased towards the said frontier. An assemblage, or
accumulation, of this nature on the sea shore itself barely agrees with
their habits of subsistance by fishing and hunting. For like
reasons we cannot imagine that, if they had come from the
interior they could have wandered across the land, and not
followed the river courses. The latter path would lead them
naturally to a country bordering the sea and including the
estuaries of rivers which, from their abundance of fish, supplied
the necessary food for sustaining life during the supposed
period of transition.
THE LANGUAGE OF THE ARCTIC SETTLERS NEEDING
THE FORMATION AND ADDITION OF NEW WORDS. It can
hardly be denied that the explanation thus offered is supported
by various facts, but on the other hand we have to bear in
mind that still we have been confined in the main to bare
theory, and the writer has searched diligently for some source
of information on which to base more exact conclusions. Such
he believes to have found while prosecuting the study of the
Eskimo dialects, and thereby adopting a proceeding which will
be found quite simple. On first settling by the arctic waters
and adopting an altered mode of existence, the newcomers must
have been compelled to create a number of new words
wherewith to designate or describe the objects of their natural
surroundings, especially the animals which they met with here for
the first time, and those contrivances and engines which
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
