Sign Language Among North American Indians Compared With That Among Other Peoples Part 27

Draw finger across the throat like cutting with a knife. (_Barnum_.)

---- In battle, To.

Make the sign for BATTLE by placing both hands at the height of the breast, palms facing, the left forward from the left shoulder, the right outward and forward from the right, fingers pointing up and spread, move them alternately toward and from one another; then strike the back of the fingers of the right hand into the slightly curved palm of the left, immediately afterward throwing the right outward and downward toward the right. (_Ute_ I.) "Killed and falling over."

---- You; I will kill you.

Direct the right hand toward the offender and spring the finger from the thumb, as in the act of sprinkling water. (_Long_.) The conception is perhaps "causing blood to flow," or, perhaps, "sputtering away the life," though there is a strong similarity to the motion used for the _discharge of a gun or arrow_.

Remarks and ill.u.s.trations connected with the signs for _kill_ appear on pages 377 and 378, _supra_.

----, to, with a knife.

Clinch the right hand and strike forcibly toward the ground before the breast from the height of the face. (_Ute_ I.) "Appears to have originated when flint knives were still used."

NO, NOT. (COMPARE NOTHING.)

The hand held up before the face, with the palm outward and vibrated to and fro. (_Dunbar_.)

The right hand waved outward to the right with the thumb upward.

(_Long_; _Creel_.)

Wave the right hand quickly by and in front of the face toward the right. (_Wied_.) Refusing to accept the idea or statement presented.

Move the hand from right to left, as if motioning away. This sign also means "I'll have nothing to do with you." (_Burton_.)

A deprecatory wave of the right hand from front to right, fingers extended and joined. (_Arapaho_ I; _Cheyenne_ V.)

Right-hand fingers extended together, side of hand in front of and facing the face, in front of the mouth and waved suddenly to the right. (_Cheyenne_ II.)

Place the right hand extended before the body, fingers pointing upward, palm to the front, then throw the hand outward to the right, and slightly downward. (_Absaroka_ I; _Hidatsa_ I; _Arikara_ I.) See Fig. 65, page 290.

The right hand, horizontal, palm toward the left, is pushed sidewise outward and toward the right from in front of the left breast. _No, none, I have none_, etc., are all expressed by this sign. Often these Indians for _no_ will simply shake the head to the right and left.

This sign, although it may have originally been introduced from the white people's habit of shaking the head to express "no," has been in use among them for as long as the oldest people can remember, yet they do not use the variant to express "yes." (_Dakota_ I.) "Dismissing the idea, etc."

Place the opened relaxed right hand, pointing toward the left, back forward, in front of the nose or as low as the breast, and throw it forward and outward about eighteen inches. Some at the same time turn the palm upward. Or make the sign at the height of the breast with both hands. Represents the shaking of the head. (_Dakota_ IV.) The shaking of the head in negation is not so universal or "natural" as is popularly supposed, for the ancient Greeks, followed by the modern Turks and rustic Italians, threw the head back, instead of shaking it, for "no." Rabelais makes Pantagruel (Book 3) show by many quotations from the ancients how the shaking of the head was a frequent if not universal concomitant of oracular utterance--not connected with negation.

Hold the flat hand edgewise, pointing upward before the right side of the chest, then throw it outward and downward to the right. (_Dakota_ VI, VII.) Fig. 270.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 270.]

The hand, extended or slightly curved, is held in front of the body a little to the right of the median line; it is then carried with a rapid sweep a foot or more farther to the right. (_Mandan and Hidatsa_ I.)

Place the hand as in _yes_, as follows: The hand open, palm downward, at the level of the breast, is moved forward with a quick downward motion from the wrist, imitating a bow of the head; then move it from side to side. (_Iroquois_ I.) "A shake of the head."

Throw the flat right hand forward and outward to the right, palm to the front. (_Kaiowa_ I; _Comanche_ III; _Apache_ II; _Wichita_ II.)

Quick motion of open hand from the mouth forward, palm toward the mouth. (_Sahaptin_ I.)

Place hand in front of body, fingers relaxed, palm toward body (Y 1), then with easy motion move to a point, say, a foot from the body, a little to right, fingers same, but palm upward. (_Sahaptin_ I.) "We don't agree." To express _All gone_, use a similar motion with both hands. "Empty."

The hand waved outward with the thumb upward in a semi-curve.

(_Comanche_ I; _Wichita_ I.)

Elevate the extended index and wave it quickly from side to side before the face. This is sometimes accompanied by shaking the head.

(_Pai-Ute_ I.) Fig. 271.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 271.]

Extend the index, holding it vertically before the face, remaining fingers and thumb closed; pa.s.s the finger quickly from side to side a foot or so before the face. (_Apache_ I.) This sign, as also that of (_Pai-Ute_ I), is substantially the same as that with the same significance reported from Naples by De Jorio.

Another: The right hand, naturally relaxed, is thrown outward and forward toward the right. (_Apache_ I.)

Wave extended index before the face from side to side. (_Apache_ III.)

Another: Wave the index briskly before the right shoulder. This appears to be more common than the preceding. (_Apache_ III.)

Right hand extended at the height of the eye, palm outward, then moved outward a little toward the right. (_Kutchin_ I.)

Extend the palm of the right hand horizontally a foot from the waist, palm downward, then suddenly throw it half over from the body, as if tossing a chip from the back of the hand. (_Wichita_ I.)

_Deaf-mute natural signs_:

Shake the head. (_Ballard._)

Move both hands from each other, and, at the same time, shake the head. (_Hasenstab._)

_Deaf-mute signs_:

French deaf-mutes wave the hand to the right and downward, with the first and second fingers joined and extended, the other fingers closed. This position of the fingers is that for the letter N in the finger alphabet, the initial for the word _non_. American deaf-mutes for emphatic negative wave the right hand before the face.

_Turkish sign_:

Throwing head back or elevating the chin and partly shutting the eyes.

This also means, "Be silent." (_Barnum._)

_j.a.panese sign_:

Move the right hand rapidly back and forth before the face.

Communicated in a letter from Prof. E.S. MORSE, late of the University of Tokio, j.a.pan. The same correspondent mentions that the Admiralty Islanders pa.s.s the forefinger across the face, striking the nose in pa.s.sing, for negation. If the _no_ is a doubtful one they _rub_ the nose in pa.s.sing, a gesture common elsewhere.

For further ill.u.s.trations and comparisons see pp. 290, 298, 299, 304, 355, and 356, _supra_.

NONE, NOTHING; I HAVE NONE.

Motion of rubbing out. (_Macgowan_.)

_Little_ or _nothing_ is signified by pa.s.sing one hand over the other.

(_Creel_; _Ojibwa_ I.)