1882 ] R C. Temple— Ta«Jc Dialects in the Panjdh. 127 



Bute, tassa chavaggayakararakarafcfcam sadbafcvantassa. 

 Comvi., tassa yappachcliayassa chavaggayakaravakarafctam hoti dhat- 

 vantena salia yathasambliavam [Kacc. VI, 2, 10]."* 



3. An JExamination of the Trade Dialects of tlie N'aqqdsh or painters on 

 papier-mache in the JPanjdb and Kashmir. — By Lieut. K. C. Tem- 

 ple, B. S. C, F. R. G. S , M. R. A. S. 



(Abstract.) 

 In the Selections from the Records of the Panjab Government, Sec- 

 tion I, 1882, are some " Linguistic Fragments" by Dr. Leitner. Among 

 these " fragments" are some words and phrases used by the Naqqash or 

 papier-mache painters of the Panjab and Kashmir as a trade dialect or 

 argot, and also a long list of numerals used by the shawl-weavers of Kash- 

 mir and the Panjab. Lieutenant Temple lately had an opportunity of 

 testing both these lists, and found them to be in the main correctly record- 

 ed, i. e., according to his own ear, though in two or three instances he 

 observed discrepancies. He discusses these differences and gives a list of 

 additional woids and phrases which he was enabled to record. He then 

 enters into the question whether these words are part of a hondfide dialect 

 or merely an argot, a more or less conscious formation of words for the 

 purposes of secrecy ; and gives his reasons for believing that, when there 

 are more data available than at present, the bulk of the words will be 

 found to be really dialectic and traceable to surrounding idioms or to the 

 former stages of the modern Aryan languages, but that in some cases 

 words have been inverted and nonsense-syllables prefixed or affixed in order 

 to hide their true form. In conclusion. Lieutenant Temple remarks that 

 if Dr. Leitner's hope, that the Trade Dialects will be found to preserve an 

 ancient language, is to become a reality, the enquiry must be taken up by 

 more than one person. The range of knowledge required is too wide, and 

 the investigations necessary too minute and searching, to admit of one 

 individual solving the problem presented in a satisfactory manner. 



The Peesident announced that the next meeting of the Society would 

 be held on the 1st of November. 



* [FausboU's system of transliteration had been followed by Col. Fryer in his 

 paper. Bufr-as some letters of that system do not exist in the Society's Press, it has 

 been thought better to preserve uniformity by substituting the system adopted by 

 the Society in all their publications. Ed.] 



