Imatges de pàgina
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the Gunduck river, in the vicinity of which the remains of Budhistical edifices are still to be found."

Be this however as it may; the Singhalese characters certainly present a great affinity to those of the Scuthern family of languages which are distinct from the Sanscrit. For, who can look at the Tamil and. Singhalese alphabets, without being struck with the sameness of their arrangement, and the resemblance in the formation of a great number of the characters which are found in them. The following examples will exhibit the affinity between the Tamil and the Singhalese Hodia. e ; c = e u ; & = #ē; &=e off ũ; ∞=• k;v=wp ; ∞ = vy; 6=" r; s=a n; &c. The vowel-signs too, with which the consonants are inflected, agree in a wonderful manner. e. g.ʊɔ=" pā; 8=π 9=♪ pi; g=4 pu; ¿=¿ pũ; ~~=Ow pe; od=6w pē; po; 36" pō;

=

&c. So likewise different other letters.

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pow;

The Karnataka alphabet, one of the Southern family of languages, we are told, bears a resemblance to the Singhalese. The Rev. Mr. Hardy says, "The alphabet which is peculiar to the Singhalese, and not used for any other language, in its general character bears a considerable resemblance to the ancient Karnataka, as seen in the copper-plates of a grant made to the Syrian Church by one of the early native princes, the date of whose reign is not known."

In the Telingu, the characters which stand for our, ☎, ✩, 6, and C (see Phonology, by Edmund Fry, p. 292); in the Grantha, the equivalents of our c,,, 2, and e, (id. p. 102); in a Pali alphabet said to be found in certain parts of the north of Java, amongst others, the letter which stands for our (id. p. 16); and in the Burman, the letters which represent our,,, cs, and 6 (id. p. 132), are strikingly similar: and although our language furnishes us with strong evidence on the one hand against the supposition that it belongs to the Southern class of languages, and on

INTRODUCTION.

the other in favor of the belief that it bears a great affinity to the principal of the Northern class, viz. the Sanscrit; yet a comparison of the alphabets to which we have just directed attention, with the Singhalese characters, exhibits a strong relationship between those alphabets and our own: whilst between the Nagari and the Singhalese there is an utter absence of that resemblance, except in the anuswara o, and the visarga %, which are the same not only in those two, but in many of the Asiatic alphabets.

To the Singhalese language are (properly speaking) known 10 vowels and 20 consonants. The vowels are subdivided into or light or short, and heavy, or long. The short vowels, 8, Ĉ, e, and, are rendered long thus:, &, (or g′) C", J, and : and the latter are considered distinct from the former. Each of the 20

consonants, ∞, &, I, a, F, ත, ද, න,ප, බ, ම, ස, 6, E, I, w, 4, , o, (some of which are otherwise expressed to produce corresponding aspirate sounds, but which being foreign to the Singhalese are not here reckoned), may be so inflected as to produce all the sounds of the vowels both long and short, with the exception of the last. Thus, take e. g. the first consonant . It contains the sound of e. Render it and the inherent vowel sound is-render it and it is -render it it is -render it and it is. So likewise the five long vowel sounds are produced by rendering into කා, කී, ක කේ, and

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කෝ.—The other consonants may in like manner be varied. But the last (Anuswára) 0, being immutable, and having no vowel sound inherent in it, cannot be uttered without the help of a vowel; and it is therefore usually expressed in the alphabet with

* The general use of this lingual sound () must here be explained, since there is another, having the same sound. is used after a ୪ ог ; as e30 m feet, Budha. But where the or S

is not in the same syllable with, the dental is used; as 6-6 gods and men, and last name.

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These obtain the appellation of "Katapaya" from the letters in the first column of the above diagram. They are not employed in any except Pali and Sanscrit works of the Singhalese, and more particularly in books on Astrology and Medicine. Every letter under each of the above ten columns represents the respective figure or Zero against which the same is placed. They are used to represent dates, &c., which, but for this symbolical method, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to express in metrical compositions. The mode in which they are used is the same as that adopted for the representation of prosodial feet (see p. p. 58, 75.) It is remarkable, however, that where the Katapaya numerals are used, they are read from right to left. e. g.

සාකෙපරකකමභුජව්හනරින්දජම්බු
දොනී පුරගිනිවසංගජකුට සංඛෙ

38 1 1

"Whilst dwelling in King Parakkramabahu's city of Dambadeniya in the (year) numeral ga-ja-ku-ta of the Saka Era; "—Manjuse.

3811

Here the figures must be read from right to left, as in that case alone can we get the year intended by the writer, viz. 1183. It is also to be borne in mind that initial vowels and mute consonants, (which are sometimes used amongst these numerals, purely for metrical purposes, or to avoid a hiatus occasioned in composition) are not reckoned; and that it is permissible to inflect the above numeral consonants with vowels in order to render them euphonious.

As it may prove useful to Orientalists, especially to those who may be desirous of deciphering the dates of old monuments, we here direct the attention of the reader to a different system of Numerals called Bhut ha Sankiyá, found in ancient writers. It is upon a process nearly similar to the Katapayathe difference consisting in words being used instead of letters. The words selected are those whose powers are known, and such as indicate numerical quality inherent in the object or idea expressed by those words. E. G. In Mr. Colebrooke's Essay on "Hindu Astronomers," (see his works, II. p. 390,) he gives the following stanza with the free translation which accompanies it:

'' නත්වා මුරරෙෂ්වර ණාර වින්දං,

the first vowel—thus, qo. 10 times 19, or 190 sounds. Add to this number the unchangeable consonant o, and the 10 vowels, and we then have 201, the total number of sounds which compose the Singhalese alphabet. These, according to the author of the Sidath' Sangarawa, are all the sounds which are necessary for a correct expression of the Singhalese; yet we find two letters or sounds exclusively Singhalese, oinitted by the Grammarian in the above number. They are [having the sound of a in 'and'] and its long sound ex [as in 'ant']; and are the vowels by whose assistance the changeable 19 consonants are rendered ɩ and ක; ගැ and on, &c. Thus by adding and , and twice 19 consonant sounds, which are formed by their assistance, to the 201 sounds to which we have already directed the reader's attention, we obtain the 241 vocal sounds in the Singhalese language.

The 19 consonants thus produce

All the sounds which are comprehended in the above number are used in the cognate languages, with the exception of qr, qu, &,, e, and e, in the Sanscrit; and qɩ, qu, , and, in the Pali.

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quando-Dr. Mac Vicar says, in reference to these vowels, "It must be here remarked, however, that in the Singhalese a vowel sound frequently occurs which must be attended to at the present time, though it will probably va ish, at least in writing, when the people who speak Singhalese rise in taste and intellect. I allude to that ugly guttural sound of a, of which and are the symbols, which is heard in the bleating of a sheep, and in some measure also when a person with an English accent utters in a melancholy manner, and very lengthened, the word Mary." Although it is to be observed that these vowel sounds, with which nouns and verbs were anciently inflected in different cases and moods, are now generally set aside by the substitution of other vowels, as you () (see § 34), which is now uttered පුත (අ), 01 පුනේ (ඒ) තෙමිය; මර සක්තන

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