Imatges de pàgina
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re-informed; 6 as in

one substance-less, or 6

in-dubitable; 7 as in gee evil-faith (having the same force ક geę

as un in unbelief); 8 8 as in Se like unto; 9 (the reverse of a negation) as in 6 love; 10 ę as in ęcsó con-densed (whence the signification chapter); 11 as in a verygood-eyed person; 12 as in cup-risen; 13 & as in approach, nearness; 14 98 as in 88

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අබී

completion;

15 උප as in උපෙ mediocrity or උවසර living near to; අප as in or separated from (hence the word equivalent to ablative); 17 පස් as in පසක් erperienced, or රුකපාසා from tree to tree; 18 පිලි as in පිලිලැබ regaining; 19 අති whence 3 remaining (or ɔɔ abundant) g passed covered.

away; and 20 8 as in 8

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"The masculine term has (in the English) a general meaning, expressing both male and female; and is always employed when the office, Occupation, or profession, &c. and not the sex, of the individual is chiefly to be expressed; and the feminine term is used in those cases only in which discrimination of sex is indispensable. This may be illus. trated by the following examples:-If I say, The poets of this age are distinguished more by correctness of taste than sublimity of conception, I clearly include in the term 'poets' both male and female writers of poetry. If I say, she is the best poetess in this country, I assign her the superiority over those only of her own sex. If I say She is the best poet in this country, I pronounce her superior to all other writers of poetry both male and female, When distinction of sex is necessary for the sake of perspicuity, or where the sex rather than the general idea implied by the term, is the primary object, the feminine noun must be employed to express the female."-Crombie. In this respect, the use of the masculine term in the Singhalese is the same as in English, e. g. මදුර දුන්රන්යාදිවෙස තුරූතනන්දිනි—When the daughter ofing Madu had gone to the wilderness, Wessantra gave away his children. vide infra 33. Here rendered by us "children" 99 is a masculine noun in the plural number, having reference to Jáliye the son, and Krishnejena the daughter, of king Wessantra in one of the incarnations of Budha. The object of the writer being, not to express the sex of the children in question, but to convey the general fact that the king parted with his own royal offspring, a masculine term is correctly used to include both male and female.

CHAPTER IV.

On Declensions.

25. Nouns are of two kinds e qui, and wes. In all declensions one of these two kinds of words frequently occur, without any alteration of terminations in order to distinguish the cases.

b.

a. Examples of ∞ (or words ending in vowel sounds); ç☎68 (4)* king of doctrines; çêɔ (❤) demi-god; IB (g) Budha; ∞ (8) lion of Sakkiye race; 661g (c) enemy of Māre; (c) evil spirit; (S) cause; ¦ã3 (®) giant. † Examples of e, or words that end in mute consonants, (i. e. consonants deprived of their inherent vowel sounds); (d) Siddharte (name of Budha when a Prince), &c. Observe that the above are nouns of the masculine gender. Examples of feminine nouns ending in vowel sounds; (4) night; &∞ (❤) river; 8 (g) beauty; 8 (8) blank (c) science; (c) daughter; (d) stroke; e

C.

verse;
() effulgence.

d. Examples of feminine nouns ending in consonants deprived of their inherent vowel sounds;—♫♫() woman, &c. ‡

* The Singhalese letters within parentheses indicate either the inherent wowels, or the case terminations.

+ Examples of words ending in the short vowels and are omitted in the text, perhaps because they are frequently common in quantity; as in () for (D)egiant armies. See note (*) p. 15.

The Rev. Sam. Lambrick in his Singhalese Grammar, p. 113, says, that "there is a general correspondence in the two languages (English and Singhalese) as to the use of the definites and indefinites." So there is. But the Student should bear in mind, that this correspondence arises (not from the use of any articles equivalent to a, an, or the, but) by inflecting the noun with a particle equivalent to 'one,' to express the indefinite, and using the simple noun to imply the definite: thus mõrgai swo

[ is here written for 6, a, or one King] a King conquered enemics; &ágqgóidion? [&B day-chief, a term for

D

The first, or Nominative Case.

26. A noun that is not comprehended in any of the last eight cases is the (a) expressed agent: and is in the first case. The singular nouns in this case terminate in and ; and the plural in and

Sun] The Sun has destroyed darkness. A plural noun is frequently used indefinitely, and to convey a collective idea; thus ✪ä bigsi ජයගති [දෙන්නෙක් a two, equal to the English expressions. "a cou

ple," or“ many a flower born &c.”] A couple of people conquered Enemies. In the plural number, the crude noun with its case termination conveys a definite idea to the mind; thus, & Agg qgórding [Ency Suns, i. e.

the Suns] The Suns have destroyed darkness. Where, however, the substance spoken of is indefinite from the very expression used, the noun is put without the inflexion one. Thus, if we are asked, what it is that creeps there?' we answer, ‘It is a polonga.' In such an expression the genius of the Singhalese permits us to give the generic term for the Polonga, without determining it to be one of the genus: for that circumstance is already known from the very wording of the question. Indeed a contrary use would be as ridiculous as to distinguish the pronouns of the first and second person with a gender. It is this peculiarity that has induced Mr. Lambrick to say, that in "speaking of any individual in a genus the English use the indefinite, and the Singhalese the definite." This is not exactly so. The Singhalese only conveys the genus without determining one single thing of the kind; for to single out, as in the above example. would be unnecessary. But, where it is necessary, there would be no impro

priety in the expression ඒදුවන්

පොලගෙක් It is a Polonga that

proceeds yonder. [Here whilst the genus is indicated, it is limited to one of the kind as in English.]

In the text the Nominative is called the first case: and the student should have a regard to the order in which the nine cases in the Singhalese are treated; since native Grammarians in speaking of the cases mention the number, as the first or second case, rather than the appellations given to them.

+ Vide infra § 59 and notes; also Bala'vatara, p. 125.

The text evidently means, that when a noun, which is neither in the instrumental case, nor in the accusative, conveys the signification of an Agent, it is in the first case, i. e. the Nominative. It therefore follows from this rule, that when the Nominative is the subject of the verb it is in the Active Voice; and that when the object is the subject of the verb, it is in the passive; or in the words of Dr. Louth, (vide his Grammar, p. 49, "when the agent takes the lead in the sentence, the

EXAMPLES.

ඒ-බෙලේ (ඒ)බලාකෙරේ Asoldier commits violence. අ—හරා (ආ) අරා කෙලෙස් කුළු Sina aseends Rock Kailāshe. ඕ−2මනෝ(ඕ) කුලද කිත්. Brahamins preserve (perpe

tuate) the custom of Caste.

හිතටසරහු(හු) දම්දෙසත් - Ascetics preach religious doctrines. Observe that in the following instances cs and are, by the rule respecting 45, interpolated between the base and the case termination: thus

ය - නිදලියෝ (ඕ) පෙහෙසුන් තෙපලන් - The. unmerciful speak back-bitings.

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The learned increase (in) learning. Observe also, that in this case the suffixes on for the masculine singular, 3 for the feminine singular, and

for both genders in the plural number, may be used in paraphrases and commentaries.*

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Verb is active, and is followed by the object: when the object takes the lead, the verb is passive, and is followed by the agent." Not wishing to coin a word, we have retained the word ookthe and anookthe. The former is so called, because it is the subject, or term "expressed" in language, being a notion obtained in an act of apprehension; and the latter, it will be observed, is the reverse of color. Ooktha may, therefore, without impropriety, be rendered the Nominative, and Anooktha, non-nominative. Professor Wilson in his Sanscrit Grammar, ride p. 363, says in reference to the subject before us, what is indeed applicable to the Singhalese,-"The nominative case is connected with the active verb, or governs it, when it expresses the agent, and with the passive when it signifies the object: cacomoá☎, Dewedatta makes the mat: açagɔoss, The mat is made by Dewedalia." Thus also in the Latin, Mr. Ellis says-"Verbs have two voices, the active and the passive. In the active, the subject is the nominative, and the object is the case governed by the verb; as, ego laudo te. In the passive this is reversed, and the subject is expressed as sus. taining the act of the subject or agent; as, tu laudaris a me."

We must not omit to state here, that Singhalese students experience great difficulty in correctly comprehending this part of Grammar—a diffi culty which they do not find in studying the English Grammar, although the rule is nearly the same in both the languages.

* e. g. gốɩ (0)88, the man (masculine) stands; misini (3), the woman (feminine) proceeds; vai (q)A

, the men (com: gender) stand; iximði (qg) ∞, the wo- men com: gen :) proceed. —Note by the commentator.

The second, or Accusative Case.

27. The object which is governed by the verb of the agent is the accusative; whose terminations in the singular number are,,,, and ; and in the plural number උන්, න, ආන, න්, නට, and අන්.

EXAMPLES.

අ− රජ දම්දියෙන්මිය (අ) පුන්නේ The king governs the earth by means of law and justice,

-සිදුහත් කුමරු (උ) සුදවැසියෝ පලමු පිලිගත්හු—The drellers of the supreme Brahama-worlds at first received Prince Sidharta.

ආ—රව්ලා (ආ) මැරීරම්රජ King Rama sler Rarenā. හු-සුරහු (හු) රෙණෙහි විමසනු-Let the strong be sought after in war (battle field).

DI6LOLD (©) 888J. Liana An assemblage of ministers entered the palace.

උන් - මහනුන් (උන්) නමදනේ Let priests be worshipped. න—පිලිමල්න (න) දනන්නෑ - Vanquish enemies. ආන—නරඹන්නෑ මොනරාණ(ආන) නස්නා Behold the danecing peacocks.

න්-දනන් (න්) මහළුපාදෙලෙයොදාවා කෙරෙව්සරං පා Let

great and small men be placed in suitable positions like the adze and the razor.

නට රුක්නට (නට) නැගෙ සමුවෝ Monkeys mount trees. අන් දරුවන්(අන්) බලන්නහුල සැනහේ The hearts of those who nurse children are gladdened. Observe 1st, that beside the above, ed as a termination proper to this case, as

G&&c.

may also be regard

The learned are greatly respected.

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Observe 2ndly, that where a continuance of time is indicated by a word, that is put in the accusative; although, accord

It will be perceived that most of these rules are not only the same in the Sanscrit and Pali, but are nearly identical with those in the Latin and Greek. With a view therefore to assist the more advanced Student,

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