Imatges de pàgina
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24.

CHAPTER III.

On Gender.

All the distinctions of Gender which nouns undergo in the Sanscrit do not prevail in the Singhalese, which has but two genders, viz. the masculine and the feminine. Words indicating the male sex are in the masculine gender; and all nouns indicative of the female sex are in the feminine gender. e. g.

Masculine-2

Brahama,

man, ↔ Nága or Snake, qó soldiers, 8c carriage, &c.

God, 6 demi-god, 6

a fabulous animal, & foot

Feminine―g Goddess, & female Nága, şórðI mother-in-law.

68 female Goorooloo,

wife,

Grammarians have generally considered the following as masculines:- water, world, victory; e leaf, water, flame, fire, burning; qugó scholar or Pandit, teacher, love;

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(generic name of certain disorders), cloud, food, work;

* Professor F. Bopp, in his Comparative Grammar, p.p. 123-6, has the following pertinent remarks-"The Sanscrit, and the languages akin to it, which in this respect have still kept upon the old footing, distinguish, besides the two natural genders, another-the neuter, which the Indian Grammarians called kliva, i. e. eunuch; which appears to be a peculiarity of the Sanscrit, or most perfect family of languages. According to its original intention, this gender had to represent inanimate nature, but it has not every where confined itself to these old limits: the language imparts life to what is inanimate, and, on the other hand, (according to the view then taken,) impairs the personality of what is by nature animate. The feminine in Sanscrit, both in the base and in the case-terminations, loves a luxurious fullness of form; and where it is distinguished from the other genders in the base or in the termination, it marks this distinction by broader, and more sonant vowels.”

Most of these words admit of meanings other than those above given after each. Their synonimes are of the same gender with a few exceptions; as (synonimous with masculine) and (synonimous with masculine) are feminine: so likewise (synonimous with feminine) and (with a feminine) are in the mascu

line gender; &c. &c.

5 sky, garment; & instrument, sun-shine; or trees, tomtom or drum, birds, gladness; 6. war, sound, dancing-master; sex, sign: 63 distempers, anger; & lust, colour (also the name of a heathen God in Oriental mythology); ∞ houses, asterism, gluttony; 6 God, wind, desert (also God of that name); meditation,* village; & members (of the body), matters; heat, inside of a bower, thunder; ę

moon, prosody, supreme person, message, joint or junction; 6∞ taste, mercury, ray, water; 6 gems; 88 followers or attendants, garments; & impudence;

feet, rays, traps, milk, trees, style or idiom;

ascetic, mind;

ɔ

sea (also name of a heathen God); caustic, neck, faggots; es caste, rain, year, Bamboo; flesh, stone, beard; 6 (species of the Lion); arm, cruelty; speech, doctrines, arrows;

assemblage, sorrow;

wealth, speaker, orator, eminent person; ✪ring, chank, army; ę lamps, islands, life; & lofts, couches, touch; Sɔ country, senses; earth, trap, side; s truth, corn, curse; quality, goodness, hearing, (an implement of husbandry) plough; ∞ being, seven, umbrella, good quality; 3 ear, sorrow; 2 merit, upper part of the arm; (Seat of Indra), also (a medicinal fruit) emblic

myrobalan, sour; &c.

විදු

The following nouns are of the feminine gender: viz. 8 lightning, science; E≈ woman, creeper; D∞ɔ rivers, a line; ove row, Pali (or Maghadah language); ∞ night, saffron; o light; & faith, shame; wisdom; & lust; @sport;

ground;

girdle, sash; &c. †

When verbal appellatives, or adjectives, or masculine terms are employed to convey a feminine signification, the termination & is very frequently used; e. g.

Vide Clough's Dictionary, Vol. 11. p. 168. çox.

It is remarkable that all neuter nouns derived from the Sanscrit and the Maghadha languages into the Singhalese are of the masculine gender; and that masculine and feminine nouns when so derived retain their respective genders in the Singhalese language.

See note (*) at p. 11.

a. Feminine verbal appellatives— whetter (from the verb whet);

(a female) who-became-glad;

escapes; &c.

(a female)

(a female) creator; (a female) who

Note, that the above termination is changed into in the plural number; as onêsion whetters, & creators. b. Feminine adjectives—ECE a fair (woman); &∞ɔê& a tender (female); ∞ a white (girl); &c.

C. Masculine terms in a feminine sense; & dancing 8 she-Nagah; 8 lass; 58 female සැතිරි 8 Princess; & female friend; e old woman; &c.

girl; enemy;

Note, that other terminations are also used as in the following: -in & black (female); and u she-calf, or (female) inhabitant; in 3gee fawn-eyed (woman); † in e ஓ •—in we› actress; and in a mother (one who has had children): and note further, that in the formation of terminations it is necessary to be guided by usage. ‡

It may here be observed, that adjectives are often used substantively in the strict sense of the word, as in the examples in the text; and sometimes also in a compound form, as in the examples already given “gentleeyed," "blue-Lotus-eyed," &c. &c.

This word is an elegant compound in the Singhalese as in many Eastern languages. It occurs in the Sanscrit. (Vide Extract from the Megha' Duta in the Introduction.) Sir William Jones in his Persian Gramınar (See his works, Vol. II. p. 194,) gives us a Persian word of the same signification<<Thus a faun-eye, a Persian epithet, which answers to the Greek ELIKOPIS, seems very harsh in English, if we translate it fawn-eyed ; Lady Wortley Montague's translation (see her letters from Constantinople) stag-eyed, is not much better, and conveys a different idea from what the eastern poets mean to express by this epithet. ”

In the Singhalese there are two peculiarities to which it is necessary chiefly to attend in fixing the gender of nouns ; 1st, the significations, and 2nd, the terminations. Contrary to both these tests, however, certain nouns admit of gender; and it is this which renders an attention to usage necessary; since many substances which do not naturally admit of a distinction of sex are treated either as masculine or feminine, according to the notions which religious feelings, national habits, or the genius of the

Certain (pro-)nouns and adjectives are common to both genders; as thou, I, that, this,* 6 fascinating, දිඟු long, සව් all, තුරුනු young, මුදු tender, ලොල් lovely, E white, & cold, &c.

Verbal appellatives are put in either gender according to their respective significations; † but participial nouns are (usually) in the masculine gender; as a going, a coming, a seeing, (vision).

The following admit of no gender, that is to say, Adverbs as නිති always, නිබඳ for අනුබඳ adjacently, රිසිසේ voluntarily, &c; Indeclinable Particles—as, විස්සල්, ඉරා, යොරයොර, පූන, තුමුටු, සිනි, සහ, සා, සු, ඉති, යල, ර, ස, රඹ, ඉහි, නිහි, ; and Prepositions—as, &, C, 98, ~, o, A, E, &c. [8]

language respectively conveys to the minds of different writers. Thus, the moon, which is regarded by many Europears as a feminine noun, is masculine in several languages of the East, especially in those to which the Indian System of Astronomy is known. Again the sun, though a masculine noun according to many European and Eastern nations, is nevertheless a feminine noun in the Arabic Grammar (vide Richardson's, London, 1801. p. 23.)-"The poet Motanabbi, in allusion to the sun being of the feminine gender, and the moon of the masculine, says "Neither is the feminine name a disgrace to the sun, Nor the masculine an honor to the moon."

'This, it is believed, is a difference which arises from the System of Indian Astronomy being no part of the Arab's faith.

Mr. Lambrick in his Singhalese Grammar, p. 21, says that "the demonstratives form a distinguishing singularity of the Singhalese language." We may also remark, that the genius of the Singhalese language admits of no relative Pronouns,-by no means a discreditable peculiarity. Perhaps also the personal pronouns, or rather personal nouns, may not prove to be an unprofitable subject to consider bere. But owing to the length to which some of the notes under this chapter have already extended, we shall postpone a consideration of them to a future opportunity.-vide Appendix C.

te. g.

Creator,

Creatress; ssis eater,

female eater; ɔɔ drinker, DÅ female drinker, &c. [8] Some of these particles cannot correctly be rendered into the English, except when they occur in a sentence, or compounded with other words; and their significations vary according to the sense of the words with which these particles are compounded.-vide Appendix C.

Note that adverbs (18∞odony) are so called by reason of the verbs being distinguished by a qualification; as o well, or at ease.

The following are some of the indeclinable particles:(a particle equal to ary in primary, thus supreme, and in like manner) නිකුත්, ව, වැනිය, වනාහී,කලී, නම්,විනා, වෙන, පු, හු, ල, එ, ද, මැන, කීම්, හොත, යම් සේ, එසේ, මෙසේ, සහ, අද, එදා, &c. [9]

The twenty prepositions‡ (in the Singhalese) are the following: 1 —as in ɔ separated from, disjoined, away; 2 □♂ as in පැරද subjugated or defeated; 3 අව as in අවසේ progressing shadow; 4 es as in esę con-joint; 5 as in

*

e. g. සුවසේ ඉඳු be well . සුව සේ ගමන්කරව Perform the journey

well (i. e. in health).

+ Some of these particles, it will be perceived, are Conjunctions. [9] Vide Appendix C.

Nothing is more difficult than accurately to trace the above inseparable prepositions (many of which are affixes) to their primary meaning; since they scarcely convey any definite meaning when taken by themselves, and, when compounded with other words, extend through a variety of modifications according to usage. These twenty prepositions, of which there is an equal number both in the Sanscrit and the Pali, are compounded with verbs and nouns; and the words thus compounded convey either the meanings indicated by their conjoint elements, or some signification altogether different from those which, from their composition, they might naturally be expected to indicate. We have said that the Sanscrit and the Pal have each of them, twenty inseparable prepositions. It is so; although it must be remarked that Professor Wilson in his excellent Grammar (see p. 97,) says, that "the Upasargas are twenty-one in number:" and he includes which he de

fines thus; "coming within a space or interval; 2 inner, within, inter, unter ; 3. අන්තර්ධානං, disappearance අන්තර්ගාමී pervadng or inner soul." This does not, however, occur as a preposition in any of the following works; Carey's, Wilkin's, Yates', and a native Sanscrit Grammar in our possession, The Mugdhabodha by Vapadeva, all of whom are agreed in the number and the identity of "the twenty prepositions"-"JA0

80058;" these are the twenty, named (Gi or ) prepositions—Mugdhabodha, p. 4.-Nor indeed does the Pali language contain more than twenty prepositions.-See Balawatara, p. 70. Also a comparative tabular view of the twenty prepositions in Appendix C.

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