Indian Antiquary Vol 12

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 82

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MARCH, 1883.
factory, the æ having the same sound in Anglo- in Sinhalese it is very slightly nasal. When final Saxon, and the Sinhalese character itself being a or preceding a sibilant, the m, as Childers has modification of the symbol for a. Prof. Kuhn's re- remarked, is pronounced like ng in German gang. marks on the palatals need some modification, owing (I would in passing raise a protest against the to the fact which I have already mentioned of c introduction by Rhys Davids in his translation being found in the oldest Sinhalese. With reference of the Jataka of the unsightly symbol invented to the weak nasal sounds before the explosives by Pitman for the ng sound. The TM or m has g, d, d, and b, it is certainly curious that writers now obtained a recognised standing as the Roman on the Sinhalese language have said so little on equivalent of the anus dra.) Prof. Kahn does not the subject. Even Childers has not, so far as speak of the pronunciation given to jñ in modern I am aware, described the exact pronunciation of Sinhalese, but Dr. Müller says :-"The oldest these sounds. In fact, Alwis, in the places form of this combination is ny in savanyutopete referred to by Dr. Kuhn (SS. p.lxi, and Descript. (inscription at Kirinde) where the y is marked by Cat. p. 236), is the only one who gives any sort of a separate sign below the line. The group is explanation of these nasals. He says they are still pronounced though not written in this way "very soft," "very faint," and,"metrically, one in Ceylon." Now this is certainly wrong: jn syllabic instant." But, according to him, this is always pronounced by the Sinhalese as gñ, weak nasal is also found before j in Sinhalese. just as it is pronounced gy in Hindi, &c. The This I very much doubt: I believe the ñ has its asterisk before kurulu should be omitted, the full sound before j in Sinhalese as in Sanskrit or word being genuine. According to Müller yahala Pali. Childers' representation of this weak nasal - sahaya. The reason why tal= vana was prefix sound by before g, d, d, and by it before bis ed to asa achchha was, as Goldschmidt has pointed very satisfactory. In Alwis' Descript. Cat. the out, to distinguish it from as=assa. The origin combined nasal and explosives are represented by of rilavd is certainly obscure. Can it be a con(ng, (n)j, (w), (n)d, (m)b-a very awkward method traction from reli-muda, wrinkled-face P. Cf. certainly; and in the Rev. C. Alwis' Sinhalese væli-mukha with the same meaning as a name Handbook they are printed n-g, n-d, n-d, m-b. In for the whito-faced monkey (Clough). Müller a review of this latter book in the Ceylon Observer explains monard as being for morana, i.e., mora+ of 14th July 1880 Dr. Müller made some na, and this na he believes to be due (as well as remarks on the representation of these combi. the nd in ukund=úkd and in gónd=go) to a nations which led me to think that he had feminine in nt: the nimeri of the Maldive he failed to notice this peculiity of the Sinhalese thinks confirms this. Müller's derivation of oya language, but from a passage in his Contributions from Skr. srotas, Pali sotto, is I think the right to Sinhalese Grammar I find I did him injustice. one, and not ogha. The word for hill is kanda, He there says :-"At present there is a difference not kanda, and is, as Müller shows, from Skr. in pronunciation between the real bindu and those skhanna: the older form is kana. Sand is væli, weak nasals before other consonants. I doubt not væla. The word for iron, yakada, which Prof. whether any two kinds of nasals existed in the Kuhn says is certainly non-Aryan, is as Aryan as twelfth century, for we find the bindu used with it can be: it is a compound, (a)ya-kada-ayo. k and ligatures with all the other nasalized conso- kandam; cf. in Clough yakula, yagula, yadaňda, nants." The real sound of such words as añga, yadama, yapata, yapaluva, yabora, yavula, handa, haida, anba, may be learnt by pronouncing yahanduva, yahada, yahala, all compounds from them as aga, hada, hada, aba, but in each case inter. ya-aya. Müller says that it is doubtful if oruva jecting a slight nasal before the explosive. I may is derived from udapa or direct from the Tamil. mention that though in Ceylon manuscripts the He derives (ya, older hfya, from pita, and compound characters which in the Sinhalese explains the by the following transitions: sita, alphabet are used to represent the above sounds hiya, hi, hiya. The origin of oluva is certainly are made to represent the Paling, nd, and mb puzzling: cf. Javanese ulu with the synonymous (id is never so used), the best native scholars at mastika. Can it be that oluva = matthaka with present carefully distinguish them in writing, loss of initial P Perhaps the Maldive bolle, bo, the letters being joined in Pali words but never supports this. With the word for leg, kakula, cf. combined. The anusvåra in the north Indian Malay kaki and Tamil kdl. dialects is spoken with a strong nasal, whereas Colombo, Ceylon. DONALD FERGUSON,
I am glad to learn from Prof. Fausbill that he and Dr. Trenckner at least intend to adhere to the signs And t, -D. .