Imatges de pàgina
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the omitted letter; e. g. Bei, produces Sedes "wondrous work."

13. oo is that process by which one letter or word is repeated; e. g. e. g. තුටු කලේ ඒ ෆ්ලෝපල් may be written තුටු කලේ ලෝපල්ලා, that king pleased. කුළුනෙන් ලතෙත් produces කුළුණෙන් ලතෙත්තා, kind-hearted person ; තෙදියට එකනෙත් becomes තෙදියට ඒකනෙත්තා, one like an eye to the three worlds; 6 becomes 6

මැද දිය කොත්තා, one like a rorldly pinnacle in the midst of the battle field; becomes giving, giving; so Se when doubled becomes Se Se, enjoying, enjoying; so likewise ʊ, becomes DE, Jo, Jo. *

Note that is an exception to the above rule, since without a repetition of that word it conveys a meaning of continuance; e. g. walesi vom aus6, from universe to universe there is a Mahamere.

14. 6 (which may be termed Metathesis) means, the changing or reversing of the order. Of this there are five kinds:

Where an expression is repeated, as in Se 8, enjoying, enjoying, it means constantly or perpetually enjoying. I should rather say perpetually; because the Singhalese conveys to the mind an idea without termination, although there may be intervals in the enjoyment. Mr. Wilson, in his translation of the Megha' Duta, in reference to this subject, has the following note, at p. 17. "A pleasing artifice occurs, of which Hindu poets are in the frequent use. The repetition of the same word in order to increase its force, and heighten its effect; thus we have above Bos ann: xêm: 3,—or weary, weary; feeble. feeble; you may repose, &c.' In no language perhaps has this figure been carried farther than in the English, and it may be a question whether in the well known

Fallen, fallen,

Fallen, fallen,

Fallen from his high estate.

we may not be justified in saying, 'something too

much of this. A fine instance of the figure occurs in Horace's masterly ode. Justum et tenacem, &c.

Ilion, Ilion.

Fatalis incestusque judex,

Et mulier peregrina vertit in pulverem.

The stranger harlot, and the judge unjust,
Have levelled Ition, Ilion, with the dust.-"

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a. 88 is the changing of the vowel-sounds inherent in consonants; [6] as in Bed, extensive, the letter has inherent in it the vowel sound g, which may be changed into, and thence the word itself into Des; so likewise 63, trees, inherent in 6, may be altered into 8, by

which has changing the

into g; so again, flowers, may be rendered කිසුම්; and උපත්, birth, becomes ඉපැත්,

b. is the reversing of the order of consonants;* as, she-elephant, becomes 5; so 66, blood, may be written 86; † so likewise ec, beds, (wor) යහන්; and සමන, priest, (මසන or) මහන.

C.

ce is the reversing of the order of words; as 6ed for 36. i. e. king Dath for Dath, (the) king. ද

d. Sasove is the changing of a case; as

ගතුගතදදුන්නෝ සහකට මැන සපන් මෙන්
පිරිරැඹනිරිඳුමලඳා පරණටබීයමරුකුලෝ

[6] Vide appendix C.

It is generally believed, that in consonance with this rule words such as the following ලෝපල්ලෝ, kings, and මත්තේගොඩ, name of a village, may be written ලෝපල්ලෝ, and මන් ගොඩ; but this is a practice unsupported by the above rule of grammar; since it no where appears that in the Singhalese language the inherent vowel sounds in consonants may be suppressed, by putting two consonants together, as in, bill-hook; although this is of very frequent occurrence in the Sanscrit, as in, science. This is nothing more or less than the "transposition" of sounds in a word, of which Mr. Chambers treats in his Information for the people, Vol. II. p. 179.-"The principal sounds in a word are frequently transposed. The natives of Somersetshire, for instance, always say claps instead of 'clasp', aps, instead of 'asp', birsh instead of 'brush. The word garnet is derived from the Latin granatus, and purpose from 'propositus," "

Perhaps the reader is aware that in the Singhalese the may be substituted for, and vice versa, as in the text. Thus for IE, rice-Vide infra § 22.

Here case plural gg.

accusative plural, is put instead of the 1st or nominative

*

The wicked, although learned in sciences, will, like serpents wearing a jewel in their necks, be the very terror of others by entwining themselves round the sandle-tree-like king.

e. 28×006& is the changing of (the mood of) the verb; as නමා වරදස නොදිස්නේ; මොනරිඳු එකල්හි පුල්සල්ගන O, O supreme Peacock! take thy lodging in the flowered tree at that season.†

Note that these five changes, &c. occur whenever they are necessary for the sake of Euphony, § or by poetical license.

15. වැඩි is the elongation of letters, as ඇස් for අස්, Eyes; ඇල් for අල් [7], cold; ඈප් for අප්, we; උවාරණ for උවරණ, means; නවාම් for නවම්, Netr ; මල් for මල, flnrer; වල් for වල, forest; සල් for සල, trees; සිහිලේහී for සිහිලෙහි, in cold. f

16. අඩු is the abbreviation or shortening of letters, as දඟ for coco, calf of the leg; es for, brushwood; for කන්ද, body; බඹු for බම්බු, Braama;|| සෙගුණෙන් for සේගු නෙන්, self-virtue; නුවනනිසයුරා for නුවනනීසයුරා, an ocean to the stream of wisdom. ¶

Here the past is put in the future tense by the translator, as otherwise the passage would be less intelligible for want of the context.

This is from gooood—a book which is handed down to us in a mutilated state. In the example in the text the writer has used the indicative mood in an imperative sense.

The &c. has reference to other accidents of grammar, besides those specially named.

§ Euphony may also mean established usage.

[7] In the text the Grammarian means by "the elongation of letters” “the increase in syllabic quantity” —ɩ. The translator has, however, taken the liberty of rendering this passage differently for reasons which will be detailed in the Appendix C. It will be perceived that the Student will be better enabled to arrive at a correct judgement upon what we have to say on this head, when he shall have gone through the eleventh chapteron Prosody, a department of Grammar to which many rules in the present chapter are more particularly applicable.

These occur by a poetical license.

These for the sake of euphony.

17. 3 are indeclinable particles, which are put in a sentence for the purpose of forming the roots (into words) or otherwise; e. g. qóið (nm15) Goorooloo-adorable; esc (3) Sanda-adorable; 6(∞) Rathesee-adorable;

having-gone.

18. c (Immutable i. e. established usage) is that form of a word, which, after it has once undergone a change according to a rule of Grammar, assumes an unchangeable form; as çi, Krishne, derived from ę garland, and co belly, never assumes දමෝදර.

*

19. is the reverse of the last definition. †

20. 8 comprise all the other accidents of Grammar, which are not herein specially named or explained; viz. All words which do not undergo a change in order to adapt them to different cases; also such words as the following, සුද අත් (derived from සුද්ධාන්ත) the immer royal household ; පඬුඇඹුල් (from පාංඩුකම්බල) the seat of Indra; and words which are not formed by a fixed rule; and likewise adverbs and affixes which do not admit of declension, &c.

Note that the formation of all words is in conformity to the above rules.

*The

End of the twenty Elements of Grammar. +

of Krishne gives us

cɔ, a dictionary of synonymes in enumerating the names 34, which is clearly incorrect, since such a spelling is inconsistent with the above rule; and since also the LOE නිගඬුව, of which the නාමාවලිය is a poetical version, has දමෝරා. though derived from day and you splendour

te. g.

sometimes assumes compound form; also

is sometimes written මහඋර.

sun, and therefore is not immutable in its the great rampart, from and Cổ,

We may be permitted to state here, since no native work treats of Punctuation-that, as in legal compositions in English, the only "sign" ог "mark of reading" which is recognized in the Singhalese language, is the full-stop, marked in the latter thus, vide Appendix A. In poetry, however, a sign such as, is frequently placed at the end of each couplet. This is merely another form of the Sanscrit sign which is marked thus. An example of the last, borrowed from the Sanscrit, will be found in the Introduction, under the head of Blank Verse.

B

*

The wicked, although learned in sciences, will, like serpents wearing a jewel in their necks, be the very terror of others by entwining themselves round the sandle-tree-like king.

e. 8 as තමා වරදස

is the changing of (the mood of) the verb; නොදිස්නේ; මොනරිඳු එකල්හි පුල්සගන Dɔ, O supreme Peacock! take thy lodging in the flowered tree at that season.†

Note that these five changes, &c. occur whenever they are necessary for the sake of Euphony, § or by poetical license.

15. වැඩි is the elongation of letters, as ඇස් for අස්, eyes; ඇල් for අල් [7], cold; ඇප් for අප්, re; උවාරණ for උවරණ, means; නවාම් for නවම්, zer ; මල් for මල, flnrer; වල් for වල, forest; සල් for සල, trees; සිහිලේ for සිහිලෙහි, in cold. f[

16. අඩු is the abbreviation or shortening of letters, as දඟ for coco, calf of the leg; es for es, brushwood; for කන්ද, body; බඹු for බම්බු, Braama;|| සෙගුණෙන් for සේගු නෙන්, self-virtue; නුවනනිසයුරා for නුවන නිසයුරා, an ocean to the stream of wisdom. ¶

Here the past is put in the future tense by the translator, as otherwise the passage would be less intelligible for want of the context. This is from goo—a book which is handed down to mutilated state. In the example in the text the writer has used the indicative mood in an imperative sense.

us in

The &c. has reference to other accidents of grammar, besides those specially named.

Euphony may also mean established usage.

[7] In the text the Grammarian means by “the elongation of letters" "the increase in syllabic quantity". The translator has, however, taken the liberty of rendering this passage differently for reasons which will be detailed in the Appendix C. It will be perceived that the Student will be better enabled to arrive at a correct judgement upon what we have to say on this head, when he shall have gone through the eleventh chapteron Prosody, a department of Grammar to which many rules in the present chapter are more particularly applicable.

These occur by a poetical license.

These for the sake of euphony.

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