Wake.] [April 18, 



He adds, "in books of poetry, theology and even sometimes in ordinarj^ 

 language, a certain number of polysyllabic words are found, but these 

 words are generally of Sanskrit or Pali origin, and prove nothing against 

 the general character of the language." M. Moura cites various words 

 which have been derived from the Pali, and which could be indefinitely 

 added to. He states that they have been shortened, so as to reduce them 

 as much as possible to the monosyllabic form, " which is one of the dis- 

 tinctive features of the genius of the Khmer language." If this language 

 is in reality monosyllabic, Prof. Keane's argument, based on its polysyl- 

 labic character, cannot be sustained, but even if M. Moura is wrong, we 

 must conclude that the Khmer has been indebted for certain of its features 

 to the Malay rather than the reverse. 



As to the verbal relationship between the Khmer and Malay languages 

 we may judge from the comparative vocabularies contained in M. Moura's 

 work. Of the 124 words there given only twenty-four are the same in 

 those languages, of which sixteen are however the same also in Cham, 

 which has thirteen other words common to it and Khmer alone. It ap- 

 pears, therefore, that Cham is more nearly related to Khmer, judging 

 from their vocabularies than is Malay. This agrees with the fact of the 

 early communication between the Khmers and the Cham. Moreover, 

 Malay and Cham agree in thirty-three instances out of the 124, showing 

 a closer relation between these two languages than exists between either 

 of them and Khmer. That all these languages include both Kolarian and 

 Dravidian elements is shown by reference to the short comparative vocab- 

 ulary appended to this paper. Those elements have, however, been 

 derived from different sources. M. Moura would, indeed, seem to think 

 that the language as well as the written character of the Cambodians is 

 derived from the Sanskrit and Pali, and it has no doubt obtained its for- 

 eign element chiefly from the north. The Malay, on the other hand, is 

 fundamentally related to the Kolarian and the allied Mongolian lan- 

 guages, and its Dravidian element has been obtained from the south. This 

 feature occupies a more important position in Malay than Dr. Caldwell 

 appears to allow. When referring to the Dravidian word kipp-al, a ship, 

 he says that the Malay word for "ship" is kapal. He adds, however, that 

 " this has probably been borrowed direct from Tamil, and forms one of a 

 small class of Malay words which have sprung from a Dravidian origin, 

 and which were introduced into the Eastern archipelago, either by means 

 of the Klings (Kalingas), who settled there in primitive times, or by 

 means of the Arab traders, whose first settlers in the East were on the 

 Malabar coast, where the Malayalam, the oldest daughter of the Tamil, is 

 spoken." Reference has already been made to the Dravidian origin of 

 some of the Malay numerals, to which may be added that the affix tu in 

 Malay satu, one, appears to be only the neuter formative da, which, 

 according to Dr. Caldwell, is contained in various shapes in the first three 

 Dravidian numerals. Moreover, the Malay sa, like the Dravidian oru, 

 one, is used as the indefinite article. Other verbal agreements could be 



