Indian Antiquary Vol 32

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

Page 26

20
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARI.
[JANUARY, 1903.
Epistolici LaCroziani. Ex Bibliotheca Iordaniana edidit Io. Lvdovico Vhlins. Lipias, 1742. In this we find him helping Wilkins and Chamberlayne in the compilation of the Oratio Dominica just mentioned. For our present purpose, the most important letters are those to and from Theophilus-Siegfried Bayer, one of the brilliant band of sobolars who founded the Imperial Academy at St. Petersburg. In one of Bayer's letters (dated June 1, 1726) we find what are I believe the first words of what is intended for Hindôstânl ever published in Europe. These are the first four numerals as used by the Mogulenses Indi' (1 = hicku ; 2 = guu; 8 = tray; 4 = twahr), which are contained in a comparative statement of the numerals in, eight languages. These numerals are, however, not really Hindôstäni. Guu is an evident misprint. The others are Sindhi (1 = hiku ; 3 = fré; 4 = chari). Bayer does not say where he got these words from. Two years subsequently, in the third and fourth volumes of the Transactions of the Imperial Academy (for the years 1728 and 1729, published in 1732 and 1735 respectively) we find him busily deciphering the Nagart alphabet, first through means of a trilingual syllabary printed in China, which gave the Tibetan form of Nagari (Lântshá), current Tibetan, and Manchu alphabets, and afterwards with the help of the missionary Schultze to be shortly mentioned. 16 Finally, in November 1731 LaCroze writes to Bayer that the character used for writing by the Markthâs is called . Balabande,' which, however, he adds, hardly differs from that used by the Bramans' which is called Nagara' or Dewar gara.' He then proceeds to show how, in his opinion, the Balabande alphabet is derived from Hebrew, basing his contention on the forms of the letters in Roth's Pater Noster as reproduced in Chamberlayne's work.
Our next stage is Mills Dissertationes Selectae. Its full title is Davidis Milli Theologiae D. ejusdemque, nec non Antiquitatum sacrarum, ý Linguarum orientalium in Academia Trajectina, Professoris ordinarii, Dissertationes selectae, varia 8. Litterarum et Antiquitatis orientalis Capita exponentes et illustrantes. Curis seoundis, novisque Dissertationibus, Orationibus, et Miscellaneis Orientalibus auctae. Lugduni Batavorum, 1748. To us its principal interest consists in the fact that, in the Miscellanea Orientalia, he prints Ketelaer's Hindôstani Grammar and Vocabulary, which, as we have seert, was written about the year 1713. He also gives some plates illustrating Indian alphabets. Two illustrate the Nagari character, and I am not certain from where he got them. The third is taken from Bayer's essay in the Transactions of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg, and shows the Lantshâ, ordinary Tibetan, and Manchu characters. The fourth illustrates the Bengali alphabet. The Miscellanea Orientalia are on pp. 455-622 of the work. Caput, I, De Lingua Ilindustanica (pp. 455-488). Latin, Hindóstání, and Persian Vocabulary (pp. 504-509). Etymologicum Orientale harmonicum (a comparative vocabulary of Latin, Hindôstâni, Persian, and Arabic) (pp. 510-598). Except for the plates of characters, all the Hindostani is in the Roman character, the body of the work being written in Latin. The spelling of the Hindôstâni words is based on the Dutch system of pronunciation. Thus, me kií, feci; me kartajoekue (mai kar chukd), feci; misją mujhé), mihi. The use of the Perso-Arabic alphabet for writing Hindôstani is explained. In the two test points of the accuracy of all these old grammars (the distinguishing of the singular and of the plural of the personal prononns, and the use of né in the Agent case), Ketelaer is right in the first and wrong in the second. He recognises mai (which he spells me) and tå (toe) as singulars, and ham (ham) and tum (tom) as plurals. He bas no idea of the use of ne. On the other hand, he teaches the Gujarati use of dp to mean we.'
Ketelaer's Grammar includes not only the Hindôstâni declensions and conjugations, but also versions of the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer in that language. His translation of the last may be given as a specimen of the earliest known translation of any Europese Language into Hindôstani. It runs as follows:
Hammare baab-Ke who asmaanmehe-Paak hoe teere naom-Auwe hamko moluk teera-Hoe resja teera-Sjon asmaan ton gjimienme-Roofie hammare nethi kamkon aasde-Oor maajkaar taxier
18 Regarding LaCroto and Bayor, 100 further particulars in Grierson, Q. A., J. 4. 8. B., Vol. LXII. (1899), Pt 1., PP. 42 and ff.