Note 20 — Chapter I · THE SOCIAL ORGANISATION

Ot-tire. The word “child,” when there is no reference to the child of some particular person, is translated e-tire, -tire being the stem and e- the prefix20. With a change of prefix from e- to ot-, a possessive form is made, so that ot-tire always means “his or her child,” with reference to some particular person understood. Thus Bora ot-tire would mean “the child of Bora,” while Bora e-tire or e-tire Bora would mean “the child Bora.” The phrase t’ot-tire (my child) is used by either a man or a woman to denote his or her child.