නෙත් ඞී. from bably from අච්චි P.; අක් E. from අක්ඛි s. or අක්ෂී 8.; නෙත්ත P. 0r නෙත්ර 8. ; and සක් ඞී. from වක්ෂ 8. or 9 P. 4, 6 (vide Clough's Dictionary) P.—4, s. and P., and its equivalent in the E. is 68 (vide Pradeepikawa).-5, is a native E. particle.-6, Jɔgowd 'thirty-two,' purely s. oc being its E. form.-7, 6 වර 'supreme,' s. P. E. Purely E. authors have used this without any alteration.-8, 'great,' E., and its equivalents in (also used in the E. without alteration); and the s. is in the P. 9, gói 'man,' s. But the word used in purely E. authors is 8, probably derived from the P. 8.-10, e indication,' s. Its equivalent in the E. being -11, 'eighty,' P. Its equivalent in the E. being .—12, m'attendant beauties,' from the P. and S.-'from;' an E. inflexion.-13, «deomü 'very delightful,' s.-14, the deportment of the body,' s.-15, ∞ an E. inflexion.-16, 'person,' E. [see note () at p. 27.]-17, due form,' s. P. 6 being its equivalent in E.-18, o 'body,' s. P. පත්ති ' possession,' P. සම්පත් ඞී. − 20 expression of P.-21, 6 the E-22, 'being,' s. for E. con P.-23, co στο and E.-19, ∞ නම් is the D. verb substantive සත්ත උප help,' s. P. E. There is, however, an E. expression for the same found in some books උවාරණ 24, ආස්රය ' association,' s. for the E. expression quB6r.—25, yoɔɔo ‘device,' s. for 9o E.-26, eos in the mode,' E. for Dess. and Des P.-27, 3 'two,' s. for oe E.-28, S8 'method,' s. P. for 16 E.-29, 'etcetera' s. P. for n E.-31, therein,' E.- 30, 'always,' s. for E.—32, 'opposed,' P. for Soug E.-33, omog 'respecting,' E.-34, g an E. inflexion.—35, 8 'friendly,' 8. P. E.-36, 'intention,' s. for q E.-37, 20 'the fact of,' E.-38, ang 'unripe,' E.-39, 856 ඉඳුරන් 'attributes,' E. for gigs. and P.-40, inherent,' E. for q s. q. P.-41, 6 venerable priest,' s. for 6 P. and 6 E.-42, od E. inflexion.-43, 8 'fully ripe,' s. and P.-44, ɔe ‘season,' s. P. for me 'awaiting,' s. and P. for E-and 46 E-45, ආසය O. of ආශ්රය, which see supra. Before quitting this subject, we may here state that where a language is the derivative of another, it is probable there will be found (as in the Pracrit) Grammatical rules for deducing one from the other. There is, however, not a single book extant amongst us which treats of deducing the Singhalese from the Sanscrit. This also furnishes us to a certain extent with presumptive evidence in support of our theory, that the Singhalese was not immediately derived from the Sanscrit. But we have nevertheless seen that many words are derivatives from that source into the Singhalese, and that the present structure of the language is in a great measure the result of a modern refinement. It may therefore not be without advantage to notice a few philological peculiarities of the Sanscrit as compared with the Singhalese.* E. G. The Sanscrit & frequently assumes the sound of in the Singhalese, as Sanscrit 'eyes,' q 3 Sanscrit 'association,' quor Singhalese; scrit 'teacher,' qugó Singhalese. † Singhalese; › San is changed into g; as oo Sanscrit 'prosperity,' 96 Singhalese. ∞ is sometimes changed into cs in Singhalese, as onimó Sanscrit 'night-producer-moon, go in Singhalese; * In deducing words from the Sanscrit, the student should chiefly attend to the alphabets, or the sounds which are peculiar to the two languages; and should avoid the use of those letters which are foreign to the Singhalese. These examples, perhaps, exhibit merely the transformation of sounds which words, derived from the same source, have undergone during the lapse of ages; or they present us with those modifications which are the result of their being deduced from the Sanscrit or Pali. In either case attention to the above peculiarities will not be without profit to the student. g ∞ is often changed into c or ; as 8 Sanscrit, into 8 Singhalese 'citizen;' Sanscrit, into Singhalese 'city.' is altered into o; as oo Sanscrit, into coot Singhalese river;' Sanscrit, into Singhalese 'high.' is altered in Singhalese into es,, and 4, respectively; as Sanscrit, into an Singhalese 'gold;' Pali and Sanscrit, into 83 Singhalese 'I cook.' [Numerous examples may be cited of this change] 5066☎ Pāli, into S Singhalese having inquired;' » Sanscrit, into Singhalese words;' 9 Sanscrit, into @ Singhalese to release.' The copulative in compounds is invariably changed into e in Singhalese. is frequently changed into ; as Singhalese 'beings;' Sanscrit, into 6 Sanscrit, into Singhalese 'king;' Sanscrit, into eę Singhalese 'fiag.' [Numerous examples may be cited of this.] is altered into ; as Sanscrit, into Singhalese wisdom.' is sometimes altered into e; as Sanscrit, into Bore Singhalese 'crown;' Sunserit, into e Singhalese 'mountain top;' p Pali, into e Singhalese 'hole.' is frequently changed into and respectively; as Sunscrit, into 4 Singhalese 'fool;' Sanscrit, into Singhalese 'pond;' a Sanscrit, into 'coarse.' e Singhalese Sanscrit 'top' Sanscrit 'half,' into & Singha *See Grammar § 7. This letter is inflected with in the Singhalese. See Appendix C. is changed into ; as Sanscrit, into Singhalese ‘sin;' & Sanscrit, into &≈ Singhalese island. is altered into ; as Sanscrit, into Singhalese 'be;' භවන්ත Ph, භවත් Sanscrit into වහන්සේ Singhalese 'Honor, Excellency.' All the aspirate characters in Sanscrit are changed into their equivalent unaspirate simple sounds in Singhalese; as ආධ්යාස into අදහස 'intention;' විරොධී into විරුඳු, ‘opposed;’ සිද්ධාර්ථ into සිදුගත් 'a proper name;' ථෙර Pah, into තෙර Singhalese ‘a high order of priesthood,' &c.* The above remarks will clearly prove the utility-nay the necessity which we have felt at every stage of our studies of a correct and accurate knowledge of the Singhalese alphabet. When we speak of the Singhalese 'Alphabet,' we do not mean the 'Hodia,' which every scholar is taught upon his first entrance upon the study of the Singhalese, and which contains both the characters proper to the Singhalese, and the symbols of sounds which exclusively belong to the Sanscrit and Pali languages; but we mean the letters which are peculiar to the Singhalese as contradistinguished from those belonging to the cognate languages. The paper on a course of study, inserted in Appendix C., will explain the reasons for the amalgamation of Singhalese with Sanscrit and Maghadi characters. *Our limits forbid any further exemplifications of the transformation of the letters in the two cognate languages; but we have laid before the reader sufficient, we trust, to enable him to prosecute the task further. And before we dismiss the subject, we give a few examples shewing the relation which the Singhalese bears to the English, not only in the comparison of detatched words (see note at p. p. xliii, xliv.); but in the striking resemblance which words in those languages present as viewed through their roots, and the laws under which transformations of sounds take place in different languages: e. g. 'eye' ; 'nose' (I changed into); 'tooth'; 'star' óɩ; 'day' ( changed ; 'light' ~; 'moon' ; 'middle' ; 'be' ; 'mouth' ; 'eight' ; 'nine' ( into) ; 'four' changed into) ; 'red' ; ; 'five' va; ©; &c. &c. lvi. Although symbols of sounds peculiar to the Sanscrit, are found in the Singhalese Alphabet; it is nevertheless true, that, except in its arrangement, it bears no affinity to the alphabet which is regarded as the most appropriate to the Sanscrit, the Nagari or Deva Nagari. The Singhalese characters appear to have assumed their present circular form at a very late period in the History of Ceylon; for on reference to the ancient Inscriptions, an impression of one of which is to be seen in the Museum of this society,* we find that the old characters were more angular in their formation, and less perfect in shape. Major Forbes says, "Two distinct written characters have been employed in Ceylon; one of these has not only been obsolete for generations, but even its alphabet was unknown: this is called the Nagara, and is remarkable for the square or angular form of its letters. The Singhalese character now in use, on the contrary, is equally remarkable for its circularity. The Nagara for many ages has only existed in the numerous stone inscriptions that are scattered over Ceylon, and still remain untranslated; but as the alphabet lately restored by Mr. Prinsep and published in his most valuable journal, appears to be nearly identical with the Ceylon Nagara, there is little doubt that any Pali scholar may now investigate the secret of these writings. This form of letters was probably brought into Ceylon from Patalipura by Mehindoo, B. C. 307." It is indeed no less probable that of the "two distinct characters" the Deva Nagara was introduced by the Sinha conquerors; and although we are unprepared to discuss the subject with any confidence, we may nevertheless remark that this conjecture is supported by what Mr. Turnour says in his Introduction to the Mahawanso, that Singhapura whence Wijaya came, "is probably the modern Singhaya on *The Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, before which this essay was read. |