902 
nwnerals, are chopooe and charnoo, 
~brother and sister, and these are evi- 
dently derivative also, though the means 
of fully analyzing them are not to be 
found in this short list. This regularity 
is very ‘curious, and should seem to in- 
dicate an unmixed race. 
This whole paper is exceedingly inte- 
resting. ‘The mformation was supplied 
by a native of the Runganeeah district, 
whom the Kookies carried away prisoner 
when a boy, and who, after a captivity 
of twenty years, found means to return 
to his family. If Mr. Macrae could 
rocure from this man, or by any other 
means, a farther specimen of their lan- 
guage, it may lead to some important 
speculations and results. ‘ 
7. On the Sanscrit and Pracrit lan- 
guages, by H. T. Colebrooke, Esq. 
From this very learned paper, we can 
only make such extracts as will be cu- 
rious to persons not engaged in the study 
of the Indian languages. 
«* Ina treatise on rhetoric, compiled for 
the use of Maniey a Chandra, Raja of Ti- 
yabhueti or Tirkut, a brief enumeration of 
languages, used by Hindu poets, is quoted 
from two writers on the art of poetry, ‘The 
following is a literal translation of both pas- 
Sages * 
«« Sanserita Pracrita, Pais'achi and Ma- 
gad’hi, are in short the four paths of poetry. 
The gods, &c. speak Sanscrita ; benevolent 
genii, Pracrita; wicked demons Pais’achi ; 
and men of low tribes and the rest Magad’hi. 
But sages deem Sanscrita the chief of these 
four languages. It is used three ways; in, 
prose, in verse, and in a mixture of both,” 
«« Language, again, the virtyous have de- 
clared to be four-fold: Sanscrita, or the po- 
Jished dialect; Pracrita, or the yulgar dialect ; 
Apabbranja, or jargon, ormixed. Sanscrita 
3s the speech of the celestials, framed in gram- 
matical institutes; Pracrita is similar to it, 
but manifold as a provincial dialect, and 
otherwise; and those languages which are 
ungramnaatical, are spoken in their respective 
districts. | 
«© The Pais’achi seems to be gibberish, ° 
which dramatic poets make the demons speak, 
when they bring these fantastic beings on the 
stage. The mixture of languages, noticed 
in the second quotation, is that which is em- 
ployed in dramas, ‘as is expressly said by the 
same author in a subsequent verse. It is not 
then a compound language, but a mixt dia. 
logue, in which different persons of the dra- 
ma employ different idioms. Both the pas- 
sages above quoted are therefore sasily recon- 
eiled, They, in fact, notice only three 
tongucs. 1. Sanscrit, a polished dialect, the 
inflections of. whieh, with all its numerous 
anomalies, are taught in grammatical’ insti- 
tutes. This the dramatic poets put into the 
GENERAL SCIENCE. 
mouths of gods, and of holy ersonages. 
2. Pracrit, consisting of provincial dialects, 
which are less refined, and have a more im- 
perfect grammar. In dramas it is spoken b 
women, benevolent genii, &e. 3. Magad’hi, 
or Apabhranj‘a, a jargon destitute of regular 
grammar, It is used by the vulgar, and va- 
ries in different districts: the poets accord- 
ingly introduce into the dialogne of plays a 
provincial jargon, spoken by the lowest per- 
sons of the drama. ; 
* * *% * 
<¢ There is one peculiarity of Sanscrit com- 
positions which may also have suggested the 
opinion that it could never be a spoken lan- 
guage. {allude to what might be termed 
the euphonical orthography of Sanscrit. It 
consists in extending to syntax the rules for 
the permutation of I¢tters in etymology. Si- 
milar rules for avoiding incompatible sounds 
in compound terms exist in al languages ; 
this is sometimes effected by a deviation from 
orthography in the pronunciation of words, 
sometimes by altering one or more letters to 
make the spelling correspond with the pro- 
nunciation. Theserules have been more pro- 
foundly investigated by Hindu grammarians 
than by those of any other nation, and they 
have completed a system of orthography 
which may be justly termed euphonical.” 
The same peculiarity exists in the 
Welsh. We will add also one specimen 
of Sanscrit etymology, the. most strik- 
ing that we have yet seen. 
«s Yuvan signifies young, and yauvana 
youth ; the first makes yuva in the nomina- 
tive case: this is adopted into Hindastant 
with the usual permutation ef consonants, 
and becomes juba, as yauvana is transformed 
into joban. The same word has been also 
corrupted in Persian and Latin, where it 
stands juwan and juvenis. In many inflec-. 
tions the root of yuvan is contracted into 
yun, the possessive case, for example, forms. 
in the threenumbers, yunas, yunos, yunam >, 
bere then we trace the origin of the Latin 
comparative junior; and I cannot hesitate in. 
referring to these Sanscrit roots the Welsh 
jevangk, and Armorican jovank, as well as 
the Saxon yeong, and fivally the English 
young. This analogy, which seems evident 
through the medium of the Sanserit lan~ 
guage, is wholly obscured in Hindustani.” 
We perceive, at the conclusion of this 
paper, that Mr. Colebrooke has made, 
some progress in collecting lists of the. 
most common terms in the various di- 
alects of India, compared with words of 
similar sound and import in the ancient 
languages of Europe. We rejoice that 
a labour of such exceeding importance, 
has been undertaken by so able a man, 
whose good sense seems to be equal to 
his great learning. It is only by the 
