OF ASIATICK WORDS. 21 



nounced Zubdat. The ha is often omitted by us, when 

 we write Perfian in Englijh letters, but ought invariably 

 to be inferted, as in Shdkndmah ; fince the afpiration is 

 very perceptibly founded in the true pronunciation of 

 dergdh, rub ah , and other fimilar words. The Sanfcrit 

 character before us has the lingular property of being 

 interchangeable, by certain rules, both with ra and fa; 

 in the fame manner as the Sylva of the Romans was 

 formed from the JEolick word hylva, and as arbos was 

 ufed in old Latin for arbor* 



^ 



We come now to the firft proper confonant of the 

 India?i fyftem., in which a feries of letters, formed in 

 the throat near the root of the tongue, properly takes 

 the lead. This letter has the found of our k and c in 

 the words king and cannibal ; but there will be great 

 convenience in exprefiing it uniformly by the fecond of 

 thofe marks, whatever be the vowel following it. The 

 Arabs^ and, perhaps, all nations defcended from Sem, 

 have a remarkable letter founded near the palate with a 

 hard preffure, not unlike the cawing of a raven, as in 

 the word Kdfim; and for this particular found the redun- 

 dance of our own alphabet fupplies us with an ufeful 

 fymbol. The common people in Hhejdz and Egypt 

 confound it, indeed, with the firft letter of Gabr ; and 

 the Perjians only add to that letter the hard palatine 

 found of the Arabian kdf : but if we diftinguifh it in- 

 variably by k, we fhall find the utility of appropriating 

 our c to the notation of the Indian letter now before us. 

 The third letter of the Roman alphabet was probably 

 articulated like the kappa of the Greeks ; and we may 

 fairly fuppofe, that Cicero and Cithara were pronounced 

 alike at Rome and at Athens. The Weljh apply this 



letter 



