Buckingham Smith

“ The two principal nations of Sonora are spoken of as the Opata and Pima, since the Eudeve should be reckoned with the Opata, for the reason that its language differs as little from that of the other as the Portuguese from the Castilian, or the Provençal from the French; and likewise should also be added the Jove, who, having mingled with the Opata, no longer use their own tongue, except in some instances of the aged. It is one difficult to acquire, and different from any other in the Province. ”

“ The Pima occupy a still wider territory, extending on the south into Cinaloa, on the east in to the Province of Taraumara. The Upper Pima are found far to the north [pg 7] living by the Sobahipuris to its outlet, and on both banks of the Gila to the Tomosatzi, in vales of luxuriant beauty, and in wastes of sand and sterility between those rivers and the sea,—having still other tribes beyond them using the same language in different dialects. ”

“ Those which may be called verbal, from their origin in verbs, are much used: hiósguadauh, painting, or writing, is the passive (is painted) of the present active hiósguan, I paint. They have their times: hiósguadauh is in the present, expressing [pg 10] the picture I form now of the passive preterite hiósguacauh, the work I have executed, of which hiósguatzidaugh, the picture I will make, is the future passive: and when to these verbal substantives is added the particle gua, it denotes place, as, No hiósguadauhgua, the place where I paint, etc. ”

“ The verbs become participles without undergoing change of form, as, hiósguam, I write, or he that writes, is the present participle; hiósguari, I have written, or he that has written; hiósguatze, I will write, or he that will, is the preterite (future?) participle. The same in its proportion is to be understood of the passive voice.
The Present Participle is of the second declension, forming the genitive in te, thus Nominative, hiósguan; Genitive, hiósgnante, etc. The imperfect participle is of the same declension, with the difference that the mark of the imperfect, ru, is the final, as, Nom. ”

“ They live among briars, owning a few animals, subsisting on wild fruits and vegetables, gathering an occasional stalk of maize or a pumpkin that nature suffers to grow in some crevice here and there made by torrents bursting from the mountains.
These nations, the Pima and the Opata, Eudeve, Jove, forming two people, occupy the greater portion of Sonora, seated far inward to the west from the Cordillera. The limit on the south is where stood the deserted town of Ivatora thence to Arivetze, Bacanora, Tonitzi, Soyopa, Nacori ”

“ Already arrived the time of labor; for which, taking the preterite pánauhri, the verb pánauan signifying labor, add dagua, time, and for arrived use hassíde, the preterite of hássem, followed by the de, particle, signifying already, and the phrase is formed pánauhridagua hasside.
The gerund in do is found in the phrase Vus hóquedo panavame, the boys playing, work, in which vus is boys, hóquedo or hóqueco, the gerund of hoquen, play, and panavame, the plural of pánavan, work. The passive voice has likewise the gerund, as for example: Nap sícriuhdo cotzóm, Whilst thou art shorn, sleepest ”

“ The limit of Sonora on the east was continuous along the chain of mountains that divides it from Taraumara,—from Sateche, the farthest of the Indian settlements in that district, southwardly eighty leagues to Bacoa Sati the first of its towns. On the west the Province was washed by the sea of Cortez from the mouth of the Hiaqui to the Tomosatzi, or Colorado, the waters of the Hiaqui forming its limit to the south ”

“ North, batén, from the North hither bahitz-áue, to bahitzuai, to the north nearly bútecon. The Indian ever has the points of the compass present to his mind and expresses himself accordingly in words, although it shall be of matters in his house. ”

“ The Particle táden, the terminal of several verbs, expresses the like or dislike the good or evil appearance of anything according to the name or adverb to which it is joined, as, neve sodóta nanactáden, or hidenatóden, I do not like this bower; tamide naven tamo tademe, we find ourselves poor; nee deosári no taden, I find myself fortunate, the perfect being found in taderi, the future in tadetze.
[pg 21]
MUCUN.
40. Of the Verb Mucún, I die, compounds such as these are made: vrumucún, I die of heat; vrúcóome, they die of heat; hisú-mucún, I die of hunger; hisúmcóome, they die of hunger ”

“ The Opata are the best of the native Christians, having never turned upon their teachers, nor once risen against the royal authorities; nor do they, like other Indians, make the women bear the heavier share of the labor in the fields. They are industrious husbandmen ”

“ When the action is for, by, or through, (“para ó por,”) this verb is used, having its termination in dem or den, perfect, deri, and future, detze; as pánauan, work; whence is formed pánauiden, which is the applicative, so that to say, I work for you, the phrase is Nee eme pánauiden ”

“ Cocátz, the younger Víngua, pl. Vipim, to which adding the possessive pronouns no, amo, and the like, the gua is omitted to such as have that termination. There is much to be learned about the names of the kindred, but the subject is one too wide for present explanation.
PRONOUNS.
17. The Personal Pronoun nee, I, followed by another word becomes ne; nap, thou or you, becomes na, tamide becomes ta; emet or emíde becomes em, veride and iride become ver and ir; meride becomes mer.
[pg 14]
These are all without inflections save this last, which has its genitive améva, being declined like amet. ”

“ Substantives of the Third Declension end in s, r, z, and form the genitive by the addition of e, and the accusative by i.
In this way decline tatas, crabapple,—gen. tatáse, dat. and acc. tatási, &c., also, porótz, wildcat, gen. porótze, dat. and acc. porótzi, &c.
To Adjective Nouns there has been an inclination to assign a separate place, but they terminate in a vowel, and there appears to be no reason why they should not go with substantives of the first declension.
OF THE PLURAL.
15. ”

“ The title of the work, in manuscript, from which the grammatical notices have been elaborated is Arte y Vocabulario de la lingua Dohema, Heve ó Eudeva; the adjective termination of the last and first name being evidently Spanish, as is also the plural terminations used elsewhere in some of the modifications of those words. We have only the definition of Heve with certainty given as “ people;” ”

“ Hècona netz eue teuhdòni, nee cumandóniru. Another: When Christ had died, so much as was man died, and had not died so much as was God: Héco múcruco Cristo, are dóremcade muqui, are Diósemeade ca muqui; where also mucruco is gerund, and likewise may be said, héco muqui Cristo etc. ”