to remark in this connection, that the writer's responsibility for the
correctness of translations given in that vocabulary does not extend
beyond his own contributions to it.]

7. The locative post-position, _-et_, _-it_ or _-ut_,[99] means _in_,
_at_ or _on_,--not 'land' or 'place.' It locates, not the object to
the name of which it is affixed, but _something else_ as related to
that object,--which must be of such a nature that location can be
predicated of it. _Animate nouns_, that is, names of animate objects
cannot receive this affix. 'At the rock' (_ompsk-ut_), 'at the
mountain' (_wadchu-ut_), or 'in the country' (_ohk-it_, _auk-it_), is
intelligible, in Indian or English; 'at the deer,' 'at the bear,' or
'at the sturgeons,' would be nonsense in any language. When animate
nouns occur in place-names, they receive the formative of verbals, or
serve as adjectival prefixes to some localizing ground-word or
noun-generic.

[Footnote 99: Abnaki and Cree, _-k_ or _-g_,--Delaware and Chippewa,
_-ng_; or _-[n]g_,--with a connecting vowel.]

8. Finally,--in the analysis of geographical names, differences of
_language_ and _dialect_ must not be disregarded. In determining the
primary meaning of roots, great assistance may be had by the
comparison of derivatives in nearly related languages of the same
stock. But in American languages, the diversity of dialects is even
more remarkable than the identity and constancy of roots. Every tribe,
almost every village had its peculiarities of speech. Names
etymologically identical might have widely different meanings in two
languages, or even in two nations speaking substantially the same
language. The eastern Algonkin generic name for 'fish' (_nâma-us_,