168 ON THE LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE 



for sweet vocalic soun Is. Nevertheless, though the 

 author is a little unfortunate in his doctrine of causes, 

 the fact to which he alludes is worthy of attention ; 

 for it is not necessary to possess a very minute know- 

 ledge of the Malayu language, to be able to call its 

 originality in question. It may be safely affirmed, 

 that neither the Malay lingua franca of commerce, 

 nor any of the maritime dialects of Malayu existed 

 previous to the era of Mahummed, in a state similar 

 to that in which they appear at present; and tliese 

 dialects seem to comprehend all that are usually- 

 included under the denomination of the Malayu 

 language. 



The Malayu language, in this limited sense, is 

 .obviously indebted to two foreign sources, for the 

 majority of the vocables which compose it, and these 

 are the Sanscrit and the Arabic. 



The connection between the Sanscrit and Malayu 

 was first remarked by Sir VV. Jones, and Mr. 

 Marsden has confirmed the fact, by about fifteen 

 examples, selected, as he says, with little pains, from 

 a Malay dictionary, Avhich had he been acquainted 

 with the Sanscrit language, he n)ight with very little 

 labour, have extended to fifteen hundred, or perhaps 

 five thousand. Many of the Sanscrit words in the 

 MalayUy as he observes, are such as the progress of 

 civilization must soon have rendered necessary, being 

 frequently expressive of mental feelings, or such 

 modes of thinking as naturally result from the social 

 habits of mankind, or from the evils which tend to 

 interrupt them. Many of the names of the common 

 objects of sensation are also of Sanscrit origin ; never- 

 theless, the simplest part of the Malayu language, 

 and that which is most indispensable to its existence 



