Indian Antiquary Vol 62

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

Page 343

OCTOBER, 1933]
CHANGE OF CLASS IN DARDIC
[§ 324
although, when initial in a few words, they seem to be slightly post-alveolar, though certainly not cerebral. Besides these, there is also a not very common true cerebral d-sound, which, so far as has been observed, is always medial, and is accordingly, as in India, generally sounded as a cerebral r. This last sound will therefore be discussed in § 325.1
Literary Kašmiri, and that spoken by the educated classes in large towns, preserves the distinction between dental and cerebral t and d in writing, but, even here, in poetry, a dental can rhyme with a cerebral. Thus, in the Rāmavataracarita, zith rhymes with dith (699) and with bithu (872), the final ü-matra of both words not being sounded. In some villages of Kašmir, the peasants make a sharper distinction between cerebral and dental, and alo possess a cerebral ? (§ 325).
Similarly, we have Bš. Vošt-. Gwr. Vust-, Ks. Vuoth-, rise, but Hindi Vuth-; Ks. dal or dal, a leaf-shoot; muš't- (musti-), a fist; dutak- or dutak-, cutting in two; kta-kal or kta-kāl (kala-kuta-), a certain poison, and others.
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1 Lorimer's conclusions in S.Ph. are combated by T. G. Bailey in JRAS, 1924, 435 ff. But the latter's argumenta fall to the ground, owing to a wrong definition of the word cerebral.' See Grierson, JRAS., 1924, 656 ff. On the whole question of cerebrals and details in Kašmiri, see Grierson, in Hätim's Tales (London, 1923), lxxv ff.
324. The sound of cerebral n has, so far as Dardic languages are concerned, been noted only in the Kafir Group and in Spa. In other Dardic languages, an original, or Prakrit, cerebral has been decerebralized, and, as in Pé.Pr., is sourded as a dental n. In the Kafir Group, the cerebralization, as in Pağto, produces a sound which is practically identical with a nasalized r, which we find sometimes recorded as n, sometimes as "r, and ecmetimes even as 7. As in Pato in the Kafir group, this letter has generally arisen from r+n, as in Av. aparenāyu-, Bă. parmn, a child; Av. parana-, Bă. por, a leaf. In others the origin of the n is not so clear. Thus, Av. span, Skr. sun-, Kl. šēṛ, Paš. šuri-ng, but Gwr. šunā, Kš. hūn“, Ṣ. šữ, a dog; Av. vaen-ami, I see, but Wai. Vter-, Bs. war-, see; Skr. ghana-, dense, P.L. ghan or ghan, 8. ghana, numerous, Paš. gan, great.
In Sina, the sound of the cerebral is always secondary (S. Ph. §§ 72 ff.), that is to say, the cerebralization is (much as in Sanskrit) caused by the proximity of another cerebral sound. The word 'S na' itself is an example of this, the cerebralization of the n being due to the precedings. The occurrence of the sound in Sina is rare, and Lorimer (§ 73) has been able to collect only six other words in which it appears. There are, on the other hand, many cases in which n in the neighbourhood of another cerebral is not cerebralized. Burušaski, a nonAryan language lying immediately to the north of Sina, also possesses p, and apparently under the same rules. Lorimer has identified three of his seven Şiņa words containing as also occurring in Burušaski. These are Bur. sän, S sin, a Shin; Bur. çan, S. çon, leisure; and Bur. jin, S. jini, lines. Two of the remaining four are of Indo-Aryan origin,-Ş. dacino (Skr. daksina-), the right hand, and S. taçon (Skr. taksan-), a carpenter. Of the remaining two,- căn-, send, and jun, a certain plant,-the origin is unknown to me. In the two words of Indo-Aryan origin, the cerebral sound of n can be accounted for by the presence of the adjoining cerebral ç, for in other Şina words an original Indo-Aryan n is represented by a dental sound, as in Skr. karna-, Pr. kanna-, S. kön, but Kl. ku18 (for kuro) an ear, Skr. svarna-, S. son, gold. It is therefore probable that the sound of cerebral in Șină, if not in every case borrowed from Burušaski, is at least due to Burušaski influence.
It is certain that speakers of Burušaski once inhabited the whole Dard country (§ 37), and P. L. Barbour (JAOS. XLI (1921), 60 ff.) suggests that these people were early Dravidian or Munda inhabitants of North-Western India, who were thrust into Dardistan by the IndoAryan invasion from the West. If this is proved, it will account for the similarity in the cerebralization of n which is observed in Burušaski, Şina, and Sanskrit.
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