1840.] from Bactrian and Indo- Scythian coins, 351 



But we should be wrong in not confessing, that some traces 

 refered to a dialect, not merely Indian, as, for instance, the 

 omission of n before t and d, and the want of reduplicated 

 consonants, even when they were required for the foreign word, 

 as Apollodotos. The latter fact does not accord with the 

 Pracrit, where nothing is more frequent than 11, mm, and others. 

 The former, though not Zendic, is old Persian, and the language 

 of the coins seems to occupy a place midway between the old 

 Persian and the Indian languages. 



It is now incumbent on me to vindicate the opinion I have 

 adopted regarding k, in opposition to both my predecessors, 

 in effecting which I shall discuss the names of Greek Kings, 

 not yet examined, which will prove instrumental in fixing the 

 alphabet. 



§4. 

 Inquiry into the Alphabet from the names of Greek Kings. 



Continued. 



Mr. Prinsep as well as Mr. Grotefend, obtain their k prin- 

 cipally from the name Eukratides ; the latter represents it in 

 the form "1 ; according to the former, it does not differ from 

 d and r. The name Eukratides induces the following dilemma, — 

 whether we suppose the dipthong e v to be expressed by one 

 or two letters, both succeeding letters are displaced. No one 

 has supposed the case, that r was perhaps omitted, though it 

 is evident, that according as it is expressed or not expressed, 

 k must occupy another place. Mr. Grotefend read Ukratidd, 

 Mr. Prinsep Eukratidd, 



To arrive at the real k, we shall pursue a different course. 



The k I adopted in dhdmiko, is exactly ^h upon the coin of 

 Archelios ; upon another at the same place, v. PL xxxv. No. 

 6, 1 is substituted for it, so that the right half of the letter 

 does not occur; upon the copy iv. PL xxi. No. 9, the symbol 

 is destroyed, also in R. R. II. No. 9. But that^i is the real, 

 complete figure, follows from a remark of Mr. Prinsep* who 

 notices, that upon a coin of Azes (iv. PL xxiii. No. 22,) ^h 

 distinctly is the penultimate symbol of the word, denoting just. 



* V. p. 549. 



