Indian Antiquary Vol 22

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 32

20
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JANUARY, 1893.
51. etc., Casse=Kabe (Manipur); pp. 53, 73, &c. Badonsachen Badun buken, a title of King Bôdop'ayâ both before and after his accession to the throne,p. 177. Damasat=D'ammabat, the great Burmese law book (Páil, Dhaminasatta, Skr., Dharmasastra).
Similar evidence is forthcoming from Quirini, who wrote in 1791 about Bishop Percoto, the missionary to Pega and Ava. The good Bishop landed in Burma in 1761, and died in 1776, In this book we have Satton. Thaton (Daton) at p. 131 ; Savedy-Tharrawaddy (Darkwadi) at p. 177; Siriam throughout; "il Re Pegaano Simingh-To" = Damindò, at pp. 98,100;"questo libro, il quale Simingh-To chiamosi" = Damaindo at p. 94, and the word again at p. 78; CasseKabè at fp. 76, 172.
The pronunciation of Persaim! must have been nearly Pasôm, and that of Bassein has always been Bassin, both due, no doubt, to Talaing dialectic variation. In Sangermano, who wrote between 1783 and 1808, we have contemporary evidence of the sound of the word, at the time that Bassein began to supersede Persaim, in Bassino, thrice used by him at pages 67, 158 and 174.
There has however been used a variant spelling side by side with Bassein in Bassien: vide a French copy of Wood's chart, 1795; Symes, Embassy to Ava, 1800, pp. 16, 17, 18, 28, etc.; Two years in Ava, 1827, p. 244; and a tract entitled Negrais Island and Bassien, 1852, by J. Martin, passim. Ever since Sangermano's time, ie has usually stood in Burmese transliteration for short i and frequently does 80 still, but to show the variant sounds represented by Symes and the writers of his and later times by identical letters I may quote bis Talien, p. 34, for Talaing. Doveton, Reminiscenoes of the Burmese War, 1852, has, p. 276, Kokien and, p. 279, Kokien for Kókkaing.
Quirini in the book above quoted, Vita di Monsignor G. M. Percoto, 1781, never mentions Bassein, getting no nearer than "Negrajall nuova colonia degl' Inglesi" (p. 117), unless we read a curious expression at p. 93 to include Bassein :-"li Regni di Battiam, Martaban e Pegù, cui spettava la citta, e porto di Siriam."
It may be as well to note here that the evidence now collected upsets the theory that the Besyngytai (Bouyyuras) of Ptolomy represents the people about Bassein, or that the Besynga (Bhouyya) River is the Bassein River, or branch of the Irrawaddy (Erâvati).13 At the same time it is right to note the following evidence: In a version which I have of Ptolemy, undecima Asiæ Tabula, 1552, there occurs Begynga 4. In another version of 1590, copied by Sanson d'Abbeville in a Latin map called India Vetus, 1674, there occur Besyngitis Reg. Besynga f., and Besynga Emporium.
Postscript. Sangermano requires editing by the light of the increased knowledge of Burma that has been gained since he wrote, and the English edition of his work was published, 18 and the work is well worth undertaking. The book is full of information as to the rise and cause of many common Anglo-Burmese words of the present day, and all the forms of vernacular words in it are worth study and annotation. The persistent use of gets for s is curious, thus sp. 59, Zabgd=Sàbwa : p. 57, eto., Zinguza=Singúsd; p. 55, etc., Zempinscien8'inbyúshin; p. 50, etc., MostoboMó(k)s'ébó (-Shwebo-Moutshobo, see post, p. 28); p. 67, sicchèasi(t)ke (the bakhshi of Indian armies); p. 90, sarado sayádò for sorádo (=Pali ácháriya + tə)-the modern pronunciation sado; p. 139, nated, an evil spirit, for nats'.
• As to the er in this word it should be noted that in Rangoon the name of well-known citisen, Rai Bhagwa Die BahAdar, is sometimes written by Kuropeans "Burgwan Dose," no representing their pronunciation of the name, scount on the first syllable. So Peronim may well represent the sound of Palm.
11 Negrais, the Negraglia of Sangermano. p. 88. 11 MoOrindlo, Ancient India described by Ptolom, p. 197. Yule, Ave, p. 208.
18 A Description 1 of the Barmece Empire compiled chiefly from Native documental by the Round. Father Bengermano and I trunslated from his MB. by William Tandy, D.D., I Member of the Roman Sub-committee. I Rome : 1 Printed for the Oriental Translation and of Great Britain and Ireland : Sold by 1 John Murray, Albermarle Street; und Parbary, Allen, and Co. I Leadenhell Street. I KDCOCXEXDI. The Reprint, Government Proos, Rangoon, is dated 1886