DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0196
Canarian Speech
121
'four’, and cansa, 'five’, were adopted they may have had the effect of pushing forward the words for
five, six, seven, one unit in the scale to six, seven, eight. As swnus, ‘five’, would then have taken on the
value of six it would necessarily have been omitted in the old compoundsumus [d] acot, ‘nine’, (5 -f- 4)
and so acot would have remained as the word for nine. The advancement of the old words for five, six,
seven to six, seven, eight would not, perhaps, have been in the nature of a common change: it is not,
however, an inconceivable one. Such a change might cause some confusion and inconvenience at first,
but the succeeding generation would never suspect that sumus had once meant ‘five’ and acot,, ‘four’.
P-WORDS
Except in Zenaga — and in Zenaga only in some special cases —- p does not represent a
sound proper to any Berber dialect. The same is true in most of the Hamitic languages,
although the sound existed in ancient Egyptian and in Coptic, and is found in Hausa and
in a few West Libyan words. For instance, Ptolemy places Ospinum in Tingitana; and
Tipasa, Aripa, Suptu, and Pigava [?] in Mauritania Caesariensis. So it is not theoretically
impossible that, at a remote period, such as that when the Canarian Archipelago was first
colonized from the mainland, the newcomers had P-words in their vocabulary.
The number of P-words recorded in the seven islands is about 58 and this considerable
number prevents our supposing that the sound of b was often mistaken for that of p.
The old name of Orotdva in Tenerife was Arautapala. Here perhaps the p ought to have
been written b, as the sound afterwards became v. The variants Pelicar and Belicar,
Tesbapo and Tesbabo occur, but these are scribal errors and not the result of the native
word having been taken down by two different persons. In Lanzarote are found the place
names Guanapaya, Timanfaya and the proper name Tinguanfaya, where perhaps paya
andfaya have the same meaning. In Fuerteventura fayra is said to mean 'a round stone’,
and this possibly explains the place names Tumbapaire, Finvapaire in the same Island.
In the Grand Canary faya means ‘a powerful man, a man of importance’, and we have
noticed the name of a captain called Fayahuracan. Perhaps the same word is to be seen
in Chipay a, a place name in Gomera.
In the compound word Potigaiga, the name of a small village in Tenerife, we find the
element Tigaiga not only as the name of a village and of a mountain, but also as that of a
celebrated captain of Bencomo, king of Taoro. Three other kings on the Island had names
containing p—Pelicar king of Icod, Pelinor, and Atbitocazpe (var. Arbitocarpe'), both kings of
Adexe at different times. Again, a celebrated captain was Peligodono. It is evident there-
fore that a P-language was certainly spoken by the upper classes in Tenerife and probably
by the whole population. It is equally sure that the language of the sentences used at the
coronation of the Tenerifan kings given by Espinosa and Viana (§ 13) must have belonged
to the same form of speech. There must also be included the five formulas of divine
names, given by Espinosa and Galindo (§8), since they contain the words Achoron, Xerax,
which are found in the sentences used at the coronation.
121
'four’, and cansa, 'five’, were adopted they may have had the effect of pushing forward the words for
five, six, seven, one unit in the scale to six, seven, eight. As swnus, ‘five’, would then have taken on the
value of six it would necessarily have been omitted in the old compoundsumus [d] acot, ‘nine’, (5 -f- 4)
and so acot would have remained as the word for nine. The advancement of the old words for five, six,
seven to six, seven, eight would not, perhaps, have been in the nature of a common change: it is not,
however, an inconceivable one. Such a change might cause some confusion and inconvenience at first,
but the succeeding generation would never suspect that sumus had once meant ‘five’ and acot,, ‘four’.
P-WORDS
Except in Zenaga — and in Zenaga only in some special cases —- p does not represent a
sound proper to any Berber dialect. The same is true in most of the Hamitic languages,
although the sound existed in ancient Egyptian and in Coptic, and is found in Hausa and
in a few West Libyan words. For instance, Ptolemy places Ospinum in Tingitana; and
Tipasa, Aripa, Suptu, and Pigava [?] in Mauritania Caesariensis. So it is not theoretically
impossible that, at a remote period, such as that when the Canarian Archipelago was first
colonized from the mainland, the newcomers had P-words in their vocabulary.
The number of P-words recorded in the seven islands is about 58 and this considerable
number prevents our supposing that the sound of b was often mistaken for that of p.
The old name of Orotdva in Tenerife was Arautapala. Here perhaps the p ought to have
been written b, as the sound afterwards became v. The variants Pelicar and Belicar,
Tesbapo and Tesbabo occur, but these are scribal errors and not the result of the native
word having been taken down by two different persons. In Lanzarote are found the place
names Guanapaya, Timanfaya and the proper name Tinguanfaya, where perhaps paya
andfaya have the same meaning. In Fuerteventura fayra is said to mean 'a round stone’,
and this possibly explains the place names Tumbapaire, Finvapaire in the same Island.
In the Grand Canary faya means ‘a powerful man, a man of importance’, and we have
noticed the name of a captain called Fayahuracan. Perhaps the same word is to be seen
in Chipay a, a place name in Gomera.
In the compound word Potigaiga, the name of a small village in Tenerife, we find the
element Tigaiga not only as the name of a village and of a mountain, but also as that of a
celebrated captain of Bencomo, king of Taoro. Three other kings on the Island had names
containing p—Pelicar king of Icod, Pelinor, and Atbitocazpe (var. Arbitocarpe'), both kings of
Adexe at different times. Again, a celebrated captain was Peligodono. It is evident there-
fore that a P-language was certainly spoken by the upper classes in Tenerife and probably
by the whole population. It is equally sure that the language of the sentences used at the
coronation of the Tenerifan kings given by Espinosa and Viana (§ 13) must have belonged
to the same form of speech. There must also be included the five formulas of divine
names, given by Espinosa and Galindo (§8), since they contain the words Achoron, Xerax,
which are found in the sentences used at the coronation.