and, are confined to the Singhalese. And it is remarkable, that the Nagari possesses the long and

alone, which, although omitted in the Singhalese alphabet for the reasons mentioned by us elsewhere (see note at p. 15), are yet included in the Sidath'Sangarawa. Professor Bopp in his Comparative Grammar, p. 3, says with reference to these letters, "Among the simple vowels the old Indian alphabet is deficient in the designation of the Greek epsilon and omicron (e and o), whose sounds, if they existed when the Sanscrit was a living language, yet could only have evolved themselves, subsequently to the fixing of its written character, out of the short a; for an alphabet which lends itself to the subtlest gradations of sound would assuredly not have neglected the difference between ǎ ĕ and ŏ, if the sounds had been forthcoming."

is used only in Elu and Pali. According to Professor Wilson, a similar character is found in the ancient Vedas, to which it is peculiar; and this itwould seem partakes of '1' and 'r.'

, is formed of and e, as kalu 'black.'

G

There is one other consonant, which, though producing a compound sound, is yet unknown to the Sanscrit. It is

ę, exclusively Elu, compounded of and ; as wę handa 'moon.'

The consonants, , and, are common to the Sanscrit, Pali, and Elu; and are respectively formed by a union of two of the characters already given.

in Elu is sounded differently from Pali and Sanscrit. Thus .anga, 'horn,' Elu, is more soft than o gangá, 'river,' Pali and Sanscrit. This letter is formed in the Elu by a union of o and co, and in Pali and Sanscrit by that of the sounds and . It is, however, supposed that its formation in the former is precisely in the same manner as in the latter languages; but this is a mistake, since foreign to the Singhalese. Vide Appendix C.

• Vide . Elu Prosody, p. 1.

h

*

is

is formed of and ; as handa, 'sound,' Elu;

ganda, 'fruit,' Pali and Sanscrit. union-letters here mentioned, the two

Like the rest of the sounds of which each

is a compound, are more fully uttered in Sanscrit and Pali, whilst in the Elu they are so blended together that the first affords but a very faint sound.

is a compound of and . In the Elu it has a soft sound as amba, mango'; in the Pali and Sanscrit a hard and full, as @ambu, 'water.'

The last three, as well as q, are susceptible of the same inflections and variations to which we have directed attention; and thus we get the (4 × 12=48,+241+) 290 sounds for which we have distinct symbols in the Singhalese language.

It must not be forgotten, that some of the consonants have different forms producing corresponding aspirate sounds, They are not used in the Elu, except in expressing words of a foreign origin, and are therefore omitted in the Sidath' Sangarawa. But, since they are essential to a correct expression of the Pali and Sanscrit, (languages which the Singhalese anciently used in common with the Elu), these aspirate letters, with several others which we shall hereafter enumerate, are inserted in the Singhalese Hōdia. *

The aspirate letters or sounds are the 10 following: 2,,,, £, &, o, a, , and

The Singhalese alphabet also contains 7 Sanscrit vowels, පට පට ග and the unchangeable (Visarga) expressed with the 1st vowel, thus-s. It is by their

Hodia is a noun in the feminine gender, derived from the root; and an inseparable preposition, meaning 'well'. The being changed into 3 by the rule at § 14. a,, and the into ○ by the rule at § 22. a., we obtain, to which usage has added the expletive, under the principles which are laid down at p. 88. The root means 'flying in the air,' and has reference to 'sound,' which is conveyed in the air upon the utterance of the letters which the Hodia embodies,

assistance that the Singhalese consonants, which are.common to both Pali and Sanscrit, are changed into a, a, m", g, oo~, am", 28, &c. &c..

To the above seventeen characters we may add the 13 following, which do not occur in the Singhalese; viz. ☎, D, wq, D, res, c,,, Sanscrit and Pali; c,, c, and Sanscrit; and Pali.

is a guttural nasal. Professor Bopp says that it. "is pronounced like the German n before gutturals, as in the words sinken, enge."

, corresponds with the ch in 'church.'

is the nasal which belongs to the palatal class of letters in Sanscrit, just as the other four divisions of gutturals, cerebrals, dentals, and labials have each a nasal sound in ,,, and respectively (see Appendix C.)

, is compounded of and as in wancha (Pali and Sanscrit) 'deceit.'

es, The aspirate form of the last. It is less frequently used in Sanscrit, and is compounded of

qancha, endeavour.'

and, as in

is formed by a union of O and, as in qattha, (Pali) 'eight.'

, is produced by a union of ę and @, as in @ Budha, ૬ (Pali and Sanscrit) Budha.'

, is a compound of and e, as in 8 dwi, (Pali and Sanscrit) 'two.'

and. The equivalent of oo in the Nagari, says Professor Wilson, "is less decidedly 'sh' than the second, as in our 'ss' in 'session'; it is a palatal letter: sha (∞) is a cerebral, as in 'shore': and (e) is a dental sibilant, as in Sanscrit."

is a compound of and, as in te prajnha, ප්‍රාඥ 'pundit,' or 'scholar.'

is a compound of ∞ and o;* as in q anksha, ‘side.' is the reduplication of, as sabba, 'all.'

in Elu as in Pali corresponds with the French n in mon,'

It is perhaps unnecessary to remark, that although they are used by us at present, the Singhalese language recognizes no joint-letters, of which a great number occurs in the Sanscrit and Pali.

A brief elucidation of the so-called "Singhalese alphabet,” leads us to a consideration of the prose writings of the Singhalese, which, as is the case in Sanscrit, are neither so numerous, varied, nor recent as their poetical works. Still, there is, happily, sufficient left in the literature of Ceylon, to redeem it from the undeserved detractions of ignorant criticism.

The Rev. Mr. Clough, speaking of the Singhalese, says (see preface to his Dictionary), "This language is copious, and must in former periods have been cultivated to a high degree of perfection; it is regular in its Grammatical construction, and possesses most of the elegancies of style; and from the numerous works which are still extant, it is evident that it is capable of being used in every species of composition."-Mr. Pridham, in his compilation on Ceylon (vol. I. p. 272) also says: "Such is its variety of expression, and so numerous are its synonymes, that it may almost be said to contain three distinct vocabularies-one in addressing Majesty, another in addressing the Ministers of Religion, and a third for familiar intercourse." This picture is not altogether overdrawn; for there are numerous words in the Singhalese which are used towards particular classes of people. E. G. Elamós 'proceed,' is a term peculiar in its application to the priesthood; whereas යහපත් වෙන්ට, of the like signification, is applied to the nobility; and wiê, පලයන්, පලයන්, පලයන්ඩයි, යනන්ඩයි, පල to equals, and inferiors of different grades. So likewise, so ‘eat' is appied to priests; සප්පාය වෙන්ට to nobles; කන්ට to

•ved, wo are expressions confined to the Kandian Country; and are applied in the same sense that පලයන්ඩයි, කාපන්ඩයි

used in the Maritime Provinces.

are

inferiors; and the last, with different modifications, such as කාපන්, කනවාකෝ, කාපත්, කාන්ඩයි, කා, කාපිය to equals, and inferiors,

Here we may also observe, that innumerable Singhalese words, without any alteration in their spelling, are susceptible of various meanings for various objects; and such indeed is the difference in their significations, that what the vulgar may regard as rank nonsense, is nothing short of sterling imagery. Illustrative of this, there is an ancient work called Dahamgata, from which we select the following passage: තම්පලා කඩව්, සීහ ටිවි

කොටවනව්

තෙල් සොයාදු ව්, කබ- බිඳලා නැනනොම ව් The plain meaning of the above is," O cousin! Break not Tampala (a pot herb); spread Heenati rice after pounding the same; run in search of oil; and laugh not after breaking the pan." But the same stanza also signifies-"O wise! destroy the darkness of ignorance; hasten to reflect that ye are a mass of bones (deformities); avoid lusts; engage yourselves in meditations; and be not sorrowful, but destroy the cravings (powers) of the flesh.”

In prose as in poetry, nothing is more to be desired than clearness and elegance of expression. What that clearness and elegance are, in reference to any particular language, can be decided by none but those intimately acquainted with the genius of that language; for that which is ele gance in the English is the very opposite in the Singhalese. To enter into a detail of the rules of Composition, would be to write a Commentary on the Sidath' Sangarawa. But since our object is to give the English reader a sketch of the distinguishing features of Singhalese literature; we may call his attention to the sine-quâ-non in Singhalese compositions, viz., the necessity for introducing, as much as possible, one's entire thoughts and ideas on a subject into one unbroken sentence. In this respect the Singhalese is as different from, and as much opposed to the English, “whose