Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 338

1313]
ON THE MODERN INDO-ARYAN VERNACULARS
| OCTOBER, 1933
As Prakrit grammarians are silent regarding any change, we can assume that the facts regarding these letters in Māhārāstri Pr., and, co far as r and I are concerned, in Saurasēni Pr. were the same as in Skr. ; but in Māgadhi Pr. the semi-cerebral , was dentalized to l. Hoernle, in Gd. Gr. 12 ff., was the first to point out that in the EIAVs, and NIAVs. and in Sindhi, the letter is dental and not semi-cerebral, while in H. P. L. G. R. and M. it is still semicerebral as in Skr, and Sr.-M. Pr. Even 7, the character for dental r used in the Kaitbi alphabet of Bihāri is a modification of that for the Mig. Pr. dentala 1 (HI. 15), and it is noteworthy that G., which also employs the Kaithi alphabet, does not use this character, but retains a modification of the Skr. 7 (see Table in $ 135). We have seen that in Mg. Pr. semi-cerebral > dental l. Sinsilarly (Mk. comm. to xviii, 12 ard RT. III, iii, 12) in the Pascātyā, or language spoken by speakers of Ap. in the west (.e., Sindh), rard I were inter. cbangeable. We shall observe the same dentalization in Dardie. We thus ece that the EIAV. dental r is derived from the Skr. and Sr. Pr. cerebral r, through the Mg. Pr. dental l. This dentalizing process is still at work in i he EIAVs., in which there is at present a tendency to represent a medial WIAV. d or, i.e., a cerebral d or a cerebral r, by a dentall or a dental r. The case is much the same in Sindhi and Dardie..
(For the goneral question of the connexion between r and I, and especially for Marathi, see FLM $ 139 ff. For Gujarati exceptions, soo G.Ph. $8 52, 53.)
313. On the other hand, Marathi and WIAV., excepting Sirdhi, retain the Skr.-Pr. semi-cerebral r, which is rarely interchanged with the dentall. They have also the cerebral d and 7, the latter being a development of the former and interchargeable with it. In EIAV the cerebral t exhibits a tendency to become dentalized to EIAV. dental r, and rever rice versa, while, on the other hand, in the WIAVs., it is the WIAV. El mi-cerebral r which cws 4 tendency to become further cerebralized into the cerebral r, and rarely, if ever, vice rerea. Thus :
Ap. rrat-, fall V pad. EIAV. pay-orr pars; WIAV. r pad or v par..
never par: märjáralan, majjárau EIAV. maijárā, never majáļā; WIAV. mājáru or & cat
mījára. [In Bhn. 173 there are given some instances of cerebrald or becoming the semi-cerebral of Hindi, but they are not convincing. The examples are partly due to wrong derivation, and partly to the fact that H. dicticnaries include EH. erd B. werds with no indication as to the place of origin. The only dictionary which attempts to show this distincticn is Fallon's, and that was apparently not consulted. Bhn's examples are the following- mara, a corpse, said to be derived from Pr, madaa. But it is really the regular H. past participle of marë, he dies, and has nothing to do with mrtaka-madaa. The H. representation of mrtalah is muā. Skr. vidambana, mocking, H. birāna, to mock. This derivation is very doubtful. The real H. root is birāv-, which HI. R. 74 derives from Pr. virārēi. The H.P. R. representa. tive of Skr, nikațē, Pr. niadē, near, is nērē, not mērē as given in Bhn. Nērē or niyar is EH. and B. and has the Eastern dental r. The one word which can be accepted is H. par clãi>Pr. padichaa, Skr. praticchāyā, a reflexion. But this is an altogether exceptional case, as a Skr. prati., Pr. padi- is elsewhere represented by pa!, as H. pasõsi, Skr. pratitāsi, a neighbour. Ther of H. parachär, is probably due to confusion with Skr. pracchāyā, from which word it is in fact derived in Hn. Dictionary. There is, however, another language in which d (7) does perhaps become the semi-cerebral r, unless the ris dental. This is the M. dialect of the West coast, the 60-called Konkani Marathi (distinct from Kõn.). This dialect, as has been explained ($ 35), shows affinities with the language of the NW. that are wanting in Standard
Skr.
152