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ESSAY II
103
92. The article ra (as was first shown by Kern, "Fidjitaal ", p. 163) has coalesced with the Common IN word tu, "master, lord", to form ratu, and this word ratu occurs in very many IN languages.
93. Further, the article ra is found with particular frequency in inseparable combination with words of relationship, especially ama and ina, wherewith it forms rama and rena, which have been discussed in particular by Kern on several occasions. The word rena is found in Java, in Old Jav. ; in Madagascar, in Hova, under the form reni ; and on the Northern Border, in Form.
Note. — Hova ray, "father", is ra + ayah, reni, "mother", is ra + ina, raha, "brother", is ra + aka. Ina is Common IN, ayah is Simalurese, etc., and aka, "brother", Sund., etc. — The phonetic characteristics of reni are explained in § 24 ad fin., those of raha follow from the law given in § 18, and those of ray from the following law : "Common IN a + y + a, or a + y + a + consonant, appear in Hova as ay". Another instance is the Hova word lay < Common IN layar, "sail". This law involves a limitation of the y-law of § 18.
94. From what has been said in §§ 91-93 it is plain that we may style the article ra a Common IN word.
95. The article i is in most languages a personal article, and as such it precedes personal names, words of relationship, and personal pronouns; the article a usually accompanies names of things; the article ra is an honorific particle. — These characteristics may be regarded as being Common IN.
96. The prepositions. Preliminary observation. Article and preposition are in a certain measure identical in IN. That which in one language is an article serves in another as a preposition; thus the two articles i and a, which we have just discussed, are prepositions in Hova, which language possesses the article ni: e.g., a luha, "in front", i masu, "before (the) eyes". Indeed, even in one and the same language it may happen that a word is both an article and a preposition: e.g. Bug. i Diyo, "Madam Diyo", i liwěṅ, "on
