174 G. H. Damant — Notes on Manipuri Grammar. [No. 2, 



in Manipur for genealogies and family records, but all ordinary business 

 matters are carried on either in Bengali or in Manipuri written in the 

 Bengali character. I may note that all grammatical forms given hereafter 

 are derived from the language as spoken at present, and not from the 

 manuscripts, which, I am told, contain many obsolete forms, and indeed 

 are hardly intelligible to an ordinary Manipuri. The grammar is very well 

 worth studying ; and as it contains many peculiarities which are found as 

 well in the allied dialects of the Kookies and the Koupuis, a tribe of Xagas 

 who inhabit parts of Manipur and Kachhar, it seems probable that the lan- 

 guage of the Lushais and several of the Naga tribes may be derived from the 

 same stock. But we hardly know enough of these dialects to pronounce an 

 opinion yet ; however even if we grant that they are originally branches of 

 the same stem, they have varied so much that they are now distinct languages 

 and not mere dialects, and a knowledge of one is of very little use in learn- 

 ing another, a Kookie speaking his own language cannot be understood by 

 a Naga, or a Manipuri by either. 



One of the first peculiarities which strikes one is the double possessive 

 which is prefixed to certain nouns ; thus — 



aigi ipa my father 



nangi napa your father 



magi mapa, his father 



aigi ikok my head 



nangi nakok your head 



magi makok his head 



In these words the possessives i, na, and ma are prefixed in addition to 

 the usual forms aigi nangi, and magi ; pa is of course the Manipuri for father 

 in the abstract, but practically it is never used except in the forms ipa, napa, 

 and mapa. This peculiarity is as a rule confined to words signifying rela- 

 tionship as mother, brother, sister, and the like, and to those which signify a 

 part of the body as hand, foot, &c. ; and it is also used with a few words in. 

 very common use, as yum a house, pot a thing. It is not generally used with 

 words of two syllables, but there are exceptions, as ' aigi iraipak' my country, 

 instead of ' aigi laipak.' These are general rules only, for nothing but con- 

 stant practice can teach precisely in what words it should or should not he 

 used. 



The Kookies use Tea, na, and a in the same way ; e. g., — 



kapa my father 



napa your father 



apa, his father 



but they carry it a step farther than the Manipuris, for they apply it even 

 to verbs ; as.. ; 



