6. මකරද්දජනමින්කි එඑපදඅමුතු - මකරද්දජ

Elu stanzas by the name of Makaraď dhadja—A. D. 1768. 7. එළු බස නඟාරසකර - කව්මිනි කොඩොල

The Elu language sweetly rhymed.-A. D. 1771. 8. ගඟරු පුදසකව්කලෙ හෙළු බසින්මනා - හඟා ගනේ I have rhymed into Elu" the offering in the river". A. D. 1807.

9. මෙ සිය බසින්න්කව් ලෙනෙන විරිත යුත - සියබස් මල්දම්. I have rhymed into several tunes in Singhalese. A. D. 1821.

10. සියබසිනි කවීකර—නිකිනිකතා.

Rhymed in the Singhalese.-A. D. 1832. 11. නගමින් ළුබසට ~~නි පහණ, Rhymed in Elu.—A. D. 1840. *

and o

An inquiry into the derivation of the words furnishes us with further proofs in support of the position we have advanced. †

* Since the above extracts are nearly every one of them from the Singhalese poets, and lest the reader may therefore be inclined to the supposition, that Elu is the designation for a so-called "Poetical dialect;' " the following prose selection from the Introduction to the Pansiapanas Jataka, may not be out of place.

අටුවාසාමින් ලී ජාතකය නියාව නොවරදවා එළුවෙලිස වූ ජාතක කථා වසත්පුරුස වු මනුෂ්‍යයන් විසින් කන් යොමා සිත් පලා ඇසිය යුතු

The writer of

"It is proper that good people, having given their ears, and bent their minds, should hear the Elu version of 'the history of Lives' which has been composed without departing from the method of the Atuwás,” whom we have already quoted, says "As people who are natives (of a place) speak in (their) native tongue: so likewise the people of this Sinhala country use the Sinhala speech: Their language is called the Sinhala language,"

The above furnishes us with almost conclusive proof against the positionthat the Elu, but not the dinghalese, was "the ancient language of the Ceylonese.' For, if according to Gurulugomi, the writer of Pradipikawa, both Wijeya's followers and their language were called Sinhala from the period of their landing in Ceylon, it is impossible to maintain that ✪, considered as a dialect different from o, was "the ancient lan guage of the Singhalese."

it would seem, by a ande (see § 10.), next

The term is derived from one (Singhalese), which changed into සිංහල, සිල, සෙළු and හෙළු,produce එළු. Thus Bow by the rule respecting e or syncope, assumes 1st, ee, and 2ndly, B (see § 9); and change of the vowels inherent in assumes ; and the in the last expression being then changed into G, and the Go into eo (see § 22. and note tat p. 14), we obtain .* It is to be remarked, that although warranted by general usage at present, the was correctly rejected by ancient writers, vide post, the selection from the eminent author of the Wisudhi Margha Sanna. But scholars are by no means agreed upon this definition. According to some, it may be from e and ලදිව් for ලක්දිව් (එලදිව්)†− the word & contracted and added to the particle & producing පලව් or එළු. But හෙල දිව්, or එලදිව්, it seems to us, is derived from Bo C, Singhalese, and island. Thus one, as above, assumes oe, and the same being compounded with දිව්, produces හෙළුදිව් or හෙලදිව්. It would also appear, that in this etymology we are borne out by the learned commentator on the Sidath' Sangarawa, who paraphrases

හෙලදිව පල, (see Appendix A 6) සිංහලද්වී පසෙහි ප්‍රසිද්ධ වූ "current in the Island of the Singhalese." The first of these

* Dr. MacVicar, in his Essay On the Elements of Voice, &c., published in the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 1. p. 36, deduces "Ceylon" from the word Elu. He says; "The Sidat Sangara [is] a Grammar of the Elu or Ela or Hela or Sela or Selan or Ceylon language. We are inclined to believe that the derivation of this word, I which is here hinted at rather than expressed, is correct: and if, as we have above seen, "Elu" is derived from the word "Singhalese," Ceylon "Sinhalan"can be no other than a modification of the term "Sinhala" or the final euphonic n merely presenting the phenomenon (to which Bopp refers at § 133 of his Comparative Grammar, and) which is a prevailing one" not only in many of the languages of India, but also in the Singhalese.

99 66

66

තොසින්නෙමි කෙලෙමි කව් හෙලදිව්ව්බසිනි — කාව්‍ය මුක් -"Have I in Eladiwu (Singhalese-island) language with pleasure

finished my song."

definitions has not only the support of Grammar, but the authority of the best scholars of the day, and is more correct than the second; and both support the view, that and So are terms for one and the same language, without a distinction of dialects: since there is no real difference between the two roots; for the one has reference to the nation සිංහල,* and the other to the island of Lanka ලක්දිව, which that nation inhabits. Since writing the above, we have heard an opinion broached by a native of respectable acquirements, to the effect, that means "colloquial or clear Singhalese." That there is such a notion very generally prevalent, even amongst the learned pandits, may be seen from the following passage in a poetical epistle received by the writer a short time since, in answer to one forwarded by him to a Budhist priest at Galle, requesting his views on a difficult passage in the Sidath' Sangarawa:

සිය බසි නා සිද තහි කිව් උදහර

G

ලසකිනා කි වු ‍‍ය දශ ර අය නො ද නේ හෙළු කර නා හැකි නැත පිරි සිඳ ළ යි

"Since it is not known with what (intention) people of ancient times uttered the Singhalese passage given as an example in the Sidath' Sangarawa, the same cannot be rendered in Elu by translating it."

Here Elu is used in contradistinction to the Singhalese; and the context intimates that the former is the colloquial dialect, into which the passage written in the latter cannot be translated. If this be so (which it is not), the word Cow can only apply, and could only have been formerly applied, to an ancient abstruse dialect or phraseology. Now, the earliest work in the history of the Singhalese language is called (not Singhalese but) the Elu (Atuwa) commentary, to which we have already adverted.

"The name given to Ceylon

subsequent to the landing of Wijeyo, from on lion, and the root to destroy."-Turnour.

Having thus shewn that Elu and Singhalese are in reality synonymous terms, we may here notice the most weighty argument on the other side, "that the Elu differs considerably from the Singhalese both in structure and in the words that are used." This is easily answered. If Elu and Singhalese are identical, a difference between the ancient and modern writings is a necessary result, common to all the languages of the world. For, to use the language of Professor Bopp, "one and the same word can in the course of time assume various forms for various objects." e. g. 2ɔ

හොද අහසට දෙස් තුබුහ '' Many people called heaven to witness,”* is now generally understood to mean, "Many people uttered imprecations to heaven." It is not a little remarkable, however, that between the oldest Singhalese writings found on slabs and rocks at Mihintala, and the modern Singhalese, there is (comparatively speaking) far less difference, than between the first specimen of ancient English given by Dr. Johnson in his history of the English language, and the modern writings of a Brougham or a Macaulay.

In the use of many words, therefore, it is a fact that the ancient differs from the modern Singhalese; and the author of Swabhasa'lankara, "Singhalese Rhetoric" says

66

එබඳු පෙරපියොවක් දුටුව දනොහැරඹෙන්වත් දිවව ද නෙව් යත් යත් පෙරලේද නොමසිය බය.

Although such tricks (of composition) previously existed, it is improper to attempt them now; for unlike the language of the Gods (Sanscrit), the Singhalese is not without a change from time to time."

The change here alluded to consists in the present disuse of certain words, the introduction of many particles which were anciently omitted in compositions, and in the abundance of certain decorations of style which were formerly avoided. The following will exhibit the difference:

Literally "many people kept heaven a witness."

EXAMPLE 1.

පහනැතඹරන්හි බමන බමර මුළු තම්බ පිරියෙස්සරණ නිමීර බලල්වලා

This passage, when rendered into the modern, runs as follows: පහන් වූ කල්හි නෙළුම් මල් වල හැසිරෙන්නා වූ බඹර සමූහය අඳුරු නැමති මවු සෞයමින් ඇවිදින අන්දකාර පැටියන් වැන්නෝයි- See translation at p. 40.

EXAMPLE 2.

සරණ තඹර වරලස සෙවෙල වලකර අරියන: රදුව පෙර කලවමන් කුසන්රිඳු නොසමෙලේ See translation at p. 29.

In modern Prose:—

පාදනැමතිනෙළුම් මල් වල

කේස නැමති සෙවෙල් ගවසා ආරාදනා කරන්නාවූ රජදූ විසින් පෙර කලාවූ අවමාන්‍යයන් කුසරජ්ජුරු වන්වහන්සේ කල්පනා නො කොලේය.

In the first example, is the Singhalese for the Sanscrit word which is now used. We have, however,

given හැසිර නන්නාවූ

which is more correct. නිමිර is of less

frequent use than අඳුර; and බලල්, the substantive form of e, is obsolete, because perhaps the same

the adjective

is used for cats.

seldom used.

වලා, as a term of comparison, is now

In the second example 6"feet," (a word which occurs in the first as the participle for walking,) is obsolete except in poetry; which frequently occurs in poetry is, in common parlance, either an ironical or sarcastic expression— නැමති, a term of comparison, was anciently, and is still omitted in poetry, as in යොවුන් සයුර for සව් වන නැමති සාගරය in prose—“the ocean of youth." The decorations of style to which we have alluded, and which consist of particles and honorifics, are the following; කල්හී, මල්වල, වූ, නැමති, විසින්, වහන්සේ, ය, &c.

From the above examples it will be perceived, that the modern prose is much more redundant in its style than the ancient, of which a few passages occur in the Sidath