American Languages, and Why We Should Study Them

by Daniel Garrison Brinton

American Languages, and Why We Should Study Them By Daniel G. Brinton We might hope this sense was confined to the lower animals; but not so. Change the accent from the first to the second syllable, ni�hillan, to nihil�lan, and you have the animate active verb with an intensive force, which signifies "to beat to death," "to kill some person;" and from this, by another suffix, you have nihil�lowen, to murder, and nihil�lowet, murderer. The bad sense of the root is here pushed to its uttermost.

66 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1885

About the author

Daniel Garrison Brinton (1837-1899), was an American M.D. and surgeon in the Union army; became professor of ethnology and archaeology in the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia in 1884; and was professor of American linguistics and archaeology in the University of Pennsylvania from 1886 until his death.