Imatges de pàgina
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gar dialect], Appabransa [or jargon,] and Misra [or mixed.] Sanscrita is the speech of the celestials, framed in grammatical institutes. Pracrita is similar to it, but manifested as a provincial dialect, and otherwise; and those languages which are ungrammatical are spoken in their respective districts." -Colebrooke's Essays, II. p. i.

It will have been observed, that a great portion of the words in the Singhalese is common to both the Sanscrit and Pali. This, while it supports our conjecture that the three languages owe their origin to one common source, renders it difficult to state, with any thing like certainty, whether certain words in the Singhalese, as we find them in modern works, are derivatives from the Sanscrit and Pali, or whether they are primitives, exhibiting merely the casual differences which result from shortenings, weakenings, and abrasions of sounds; alterations that ever exist between the dialects of one common parent language. In illustration of this part of the subject we refer the reader to the following passage from the Panchika Pradeepa or the 'Mu gallayana Pathi Panchica,'

සකල ලෝකනය නර සායන වු මාත්‍රිංශත්වර මහ පුරු පලක්‍ෂණා ශිත්‍යානුව්‍යංජනයෙන් සමලංකෘත වූ ආත්මභාවයතෙමරූපකා යසම්පත්තිනවේ සත්වාපකාර සම්පත්නම් ආශ්‍ර“ ප්‍රයෝ ගවසයෙන් ද්විවිධ වේ. එහි දේවදත්තාදී නිත්‍ය විරොධිසත්වය කෙර හිදුනිත්‍යයෙහිතාධ්‍යාසය බවද නොමුහුකල ඉඳුරන් ඇති භද්‍ර පීඨ ස්ථවිරාදීන්ගෙඉන්ද්‍රිය පරිපාකකාලාවම අස්‍රස නම්

වේ.

1, e common to s. is another Singhalese word,

P. and E.,
means 'all.' There
ce, derived from either the

3 and are the

8. or P., and also a native term of like signification, ge. -2, 'world,' s. P. and E.; but Singhalese forms of the same word.—3, ‘eye,' s. or P.; its equivalent in the E. is ; que E. is pro

8 stands for Sanscrit; P for Pali, and E for the Singhalese or Elu,

bably from අච්චි P.; අක් E. fron අක්ඛි s. or 9 s.; නෙත් ඞී. from නෙත්ත P. 0r නෙත්‍ර 8. ; and සක් E. from වක්ෂ, 8. or 9 P. 4, 6 (vide Clough's Dictionary) s. and P., and its equivalent in the E. is 68 (vide Pradeepikawa).-5, is a native E. particle.-6, 'thirty-two,' purely s.

being its E. form.-7, §6 'supreme,' s. P. E. Purely E. authors have used this without any alteration.-8, 'great,' E., and its equivalents in

in the P..-9,

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the s. is (also used in the E. without alteration); and 'man,' s. But the word used in purely E. authors is 8, probably derived from the P. 8.-10, (indication,' s. Its equivalent in the E. being e-11, q 'eighty,' P. Its equivalent in the E. being -12, qgƐman 'attendant beauties,' from the P. and s.- from;'an E. inflexion.-13, 200 'very delightful,' s.—14, the deportment of the body,' s.-15, as an E. inflexion.-16, person,' E. [see note() at p. 27.]-17, 6 form,' s. P. 6 being its equivalent in E.-18, 'body,' s. P. and E.—19, ≈§ 'possession,' P. E.-20, is the E. සම්පත් නම් expression of P.-21, 6 the verb substantive E-22, 'being,' s. for of E. com P.-23, co සත්ත උප help,' s. P. E. There is, however, an E. expression for the same found in some books cεɔóm.—24, ¶ ‘association,' s. for the E. expression quot.-25, yao 'device,' s. for 203 E.—26, Eso in the mode,' E. for E s. and D. P.-27, 'two,' s. for o E.-28, 88 'method,' s. P. for

E.-29,

etcetera's. P. for qu E.—31,

therein,' E.— 30, 'always,' s. for

E.—32, L'opposed,' P. for Bóg E.—33, omo68 'respecting,' E.-34, g an E. inflexion.-35, 8 'friendly,' B. P. E.—36, e 'intention,' s. for E.—37, D 'the fact of,' E.-38, 'unripe,' E.-39, 856 'attributes,' E. for 8. and P.-40, inherent,' E. for q s. 98.9 P.—41, we venerable priest,' s. for cs P. and 6 E.-42, od E. inflexion.-43, 8

e 'season,' s. P. for e

'fully ripe,' s. and P.-44, E.—45, q∞ 'awaiting,' s. and P. for ආසය P. of 8622, which see supra.

E.-and 46,

Before quitting this subject, we may here state that where a language is the derivative of another, it is probable there will be found (as in the Pracrit) Grammatical rules for deducing one from the other. There is, however, not a single book extant amongst us which treats of deducing the Singhalese from the Sanscrit. This also furnishes us to a certain extent with presumptive evidence in support of our theory, that the Singhalese was not immediately derived from the Sanscrit. But we have nevertheless seen that many words are derivatives from that source into the Singhalese, and that the present structure of the language is in a great measure the result of a modern refinement. It may therefore not be without advantage to notice a few philological peculiarities of the Sanscrit as compared with the Singhalese.*

E. G. The Sanscrit & frequently assumes the sound of qu in the Singhalese, as Sanscrit 'eyes,' Singhalese; 8 ∞ San

pg Sanscrit 'association,' quor Singhalese; scrit 'teacher,' qugó Singhalese. †

is changed into g; as Sanscrit 'prosperity,' go Singhalese.

e is sometimes changed into s in Singhalese, as 9000 Sanscrit 'night-producer'-moon, go in Singhalese;

* In deducing words from the Sanscrit, the student should chiefly attend to the alphabets, or the sounds which are peculiar to the two languages; and should avoid the use of those letters which are foreign to the Singhalese.

+ These examples, perhaps, exhibit merely the transformation of sounds which words, derived from the same source, have undergone during the lapse of ages; or they present us with those modifications which are the result of their being deduced from the Sanscrit or Pali. In either case attention to the above peculiarities will not be without profit to the student.

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Sanscrit, soov Singhalese 'a small kind of mango;' Pali, 86 Singhalese 'grammar;' Sanscrit, Singhalese 'mouth.'

∞ is often changed into cs or into 8* Singhalese 'citizen;' Singhalese 'city.'

; as Sanscrit,

Sanscrit, into 6

is altered into o; as @ Sanscrit, into † Singhalese river;' Sanscrit, into Singhalese ‘high.'

6☎ɔ Pāli, Sanscrit,

is altered in Singhalese into es,, and ę, respectively; as කාද්වන Sanscrit, into කසුන් Singhalese ‘gold;’ පචාමි Pai and Sanscrit, into 83 Singhalese 'I cook.' [Numerous examples may be cited of this change] into Singhalese 'having inquired;' into Singhalese words;' Sanscrit, into Singhalese to release.' The copulative in compounds is invariably changed into in Singhalese.

is frequently changed into ; as Sanscrit, into Singhalese 'beings;' Sanscrit, into 6

Singhalese

'king;' Sanscrit, into ę Singhalese 'flag.' [Numerous examples may be cited of this.]

is altered into ; as Sanscrit, into

Singhalese wisdom."

✓ is sometimes altered into @; as Sanscrit, into Singhalese 'crown;' Sanscrit, into e Singhalese 'mountain top;' Pali, into e Singhalese 'hole.' is frequently changed into and respectively; as Sunscrit, into Singhalese 'fool;' Sanscrit, into Singhalese 'pond;' Sanscrit, into

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e Singhalese

Sanscrit 'top'

Sanscrit 'half,' into q Singha

See Grammar § 7.

This letter is inflected with in the Singhalese. See Appendix C.

is changed into ; as se Sanscrit, into Singhalese 'sin;' Sanscrit, into a Singhalese island.'

is altered into ; as Sanscrit, into Singhalese ‘be;’ භවන්ත Pali, භවත් Sanscrit into වහන්සේ Singhalese 'Honor, Excellency.'

All the aspirate characters in Sanscrit are changed into their equivalent unaspirate simple sounds in Singhalese; as @me into es intention;' 863 into Sove, 'opposed;' into a proper name;' Pali, into 6

Singhalese 'a high order of priesthood,' &c.* The above remarks will clearly prove the utility—nay the necessity which we have felt at every stage of our studies of a correct and accurate knowledge of the Singhalese alphabet. When we speak of the Singhalese 'Alphabet,' we do not mean the 'Hodia,' which every scholar is taught upon his first entrance upon the study of the Singhalese, and which contains both the characters proper to the Singhalese, and the symbols of sounds which exclusively belong to the Sanscrit and Pali languages; but we mean the letters which are peculiar to the Singhalese as contradistinguished from those belonging to the cognate languages. The paper on a course of study, inserted in Appendix C., will explain the reasons for the amalgamation of Singhalese with Sanscrit and Maghadi characters.

Our limits forbid any further exemplifications of the transformation of the letters in the two cognate languages; but we have laid before the reader sufficient, we trust, to enable him to prosecute the task further. And before we dismiss the subject, we give a few examples shewing the relation which the Singhalese bears to the English, not only in the comparison of detatched words (see note at p. p. xliii, xliv.); but in the striking resemblance which words in those languages present as viewed through their roots, and the laws under which transformations of sounds take place in different languages: e. g. ‘eye' qlol; 'nose' (es changed into); 'tooth'; 'star' ; 'day' ( changed ; 'moon' ; middle' uc; 'red' ; mouth' ge; 'four' ; 'five'

into) ; 'light'
'stand' ; 'be'
'six'; 'eight'

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; 'nine' (

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changed into)

;

; &c. &c.

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