138 Contributions towards Vernacular Lexicography. [No. 2, 



letter and the reduplication of the second. Thus for ^W in Sanscrit, 

 we have ^^ in Prakrit, as well in the older dialect Pali ; so for 

 35"5lr-35"S5r ; 5f5ST-S£?sr. In short, this application of the laws of eupho- 

 ny is to be found in all strong vocalic languages, and in those in 

 which pronunciation is slurred, indistinct, and hasty. And though 

 we know every educated Bengali calls the mirror in common con- 

 versation ^T?"^, from ^siTTt"*^ 1 , the vulgar pronounce it as 'STUTPT. 

 Some again go so far as to transpose the r and call it ^T^fT. Simi- 

 larly ^5[T?R1 becomes $rT?R1. sf<F is common both to the high and the 

 low, though it is derived from Prakrita $F§, Sanscrit C5f1. Here it may 

 be noticed that in Prakrit and Bengali, the diphthong vowels <i? and 

 4^ are simplified into distinct sounds of ^^ and "^ constituents 

 of the compound sound, and sometimes one of these simple sounds 

 is even elided, as ^STf*T in Sanscrit is ^f" in Prakrit, and t^» in 

 Bengali. This elimination of the <[, as in ^T?"f?T, is used by the 

 very lowest classes. The 3" is left out in such words as gjjft^f and 

 <TJT^, and they are in Bengali f*pJft*T, fsf^'ST, *PRt*l, and TT*f or 31"^, 

 as also ^siT^r ^T^F or ^5JT3". The double Sf in f*f#t«f is evidently 

 owing to the rule of pronunciation in Sanscrit, which lays 

 down that the consonant preceding a compound is always to 

 be doubled ; so also consonants following a visarga. As regards 

 3"fsf from 37T3[, in Bengali ?f and "51 are generally interchan- 

 geable, as CSTtsntl from ^sj^sHffi'. The same may be said of v5 

 and '5f, 1? and \5\ Compounds of a liquid and an aspirate are gene- 

 rally modified in Pali, Prakrit, and Bengali by elision of the former. 

 The Sanscrit *iw becomes *m in all three, as also ?Pi5T, 1% and 

 ^fJTJt, ^f^l. Here in the derivation of the dialectic form *fii? we 

 find a clue to the custom peculiar in Bengal of pronouncing conso- 

 nant compounds of "sr in a manner so as to give a nasal sound to 

 it. The only exceptions to this are ^ft»ft<r, *TT»Tjr^t, ^T»T5fte. In 

 Sanscrit and modern Hindustani, the 'ST after ff is distinctly pro- 

 nounced. 



To the Prakrit many of the Bengal forms may be traced which 

 cannot be so easily referred to the Sanscrit. 



Thus the Bengali numerals : — 



