88 G. A. Grierson — Bangdli version of the Lord's Prayer. [May, 



This settles the question, and we are all much indebted to 

 M. Sylvain Levi, for his very interesting communication. 



Dr. G. A. Grierson, Honorary Philological Secretary, read the fol- 

 lowing note on an early supposed Bangali version of the Lord's Prayer. 



At the meeting of the Society held in April 1893, I had the honour 

 of reading a paper on the Early Study of India^i Vernaculars in Europe.^ 

 It was fortunate enough to attract the attention of other scholars, some 

 of whom have made valuable additions to our knowledge of the subject. 

 Amongst these latter may be mentioned a paper read last January be- 

 fore the Reale Accademia dei Lincei of Rome, by Signor Emilio Teza, 

 entitled, Dei 'primi Studi sulle Lingue indostaniche alle note di G. A, 

 Grierson. Signor Teza has brought the following interesting facts to 

 light. 



In my paper I drew attention to a work of Fritz published in 1748, 

 entitled the Orientalisch-und-occidentalisch Sprachmeistery which contain- 

 ed amongst other things two hundred translations of the Lord's Prayer 

 in different languages. Regarding the Bangali version given in that 

 work, I said 2 : — 



The Bangali translation, which is taken from Wilkins' sample given in Cham- 

 berlayne's Sylloge, is almost worth reprinting as a curiosity for the number of 

 seemingly impossible mistakes it contains. In fact it is quite illegible and unintelligi- 

 ble to every native of Bengal to whom I have shown it. It has evidently been made 

 by some person who got a copy of the alphabet, and a general description of the lan- 

 guage, and then ' greatly dared.' Even his knowledge of the alphabet is incomplete. 



Signor Teza is the fortunate possessor of a copy of Chamberlayne's 

 Syllogej from which Fritz copied his Bangali version, and Wilkins' con- 

 fession in the Latin Preface to that work clears up the mystery. He 

 says that as he had not been able to obtain a copy of the Lord's Prayer 

 in Bangali, he had taken a Malay version, and written it in Bangali 

 characters. The transliteration given by Wilkins of this curiosity is as 

 follows : — 



Bappa kita, jang adda de surga, 



Narama-mou jadi bersakti, 



Radjat-mou mendarang, 



Kandhatimou menjadi de bumi sepertj de surga, 



Roti kita derri sa hari-hari membiikan kita sa hari inila, 



Makka ber-ampunla padakita doosa kita, seperti kita ber-am- 

 pun-akan siapa bersala kapada kita, 



D'jang-an hentar kita kapada tjobahan. 



Tempi lepasken kita dari jang d'jakat : 



I See Journal, Part I. for 1893, p. 41. 2 L. c, p. 48. 



