Author: J. TURNBULL THOMSON
Title: Barat or Barata fossil words
Description: Wellington, New Zealand Institute. 1879, First Edition. No Binding, 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Book, An article disbound from "Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 12 (1879), p. 157 - 185, one plate with two maps. Thomson used linguistic comparison to argue that remnants of the language of an ancient race of South India can be traced in the languages spoken in Madagascar, the Malay Archipelago, Polynesia and New Zealand. By comparing the languages spoken in these regions, he demonstrated that, though different, there were similarities in the sound and meaning of certain words. For example, "dua" (two) in Malay; was "daua" in Mindanoa; "do" in Hindi and "rua" in Maori. These common words, in Thomson's term, were "Barata fossil words" - remnants of the "Negroid" language of ancient India "which have not been eradicated by foreign influences." The presence of fossil words in a language, Thomson thought, would indicate a common ancestry. Good.

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