360 Lassen on the History traced [No. 100. 



of six well preserved copies, but the comparison is made by 

 Mr. Masson, and he will excuse me in asserting, that the 

 name of the king was not this ; the native legend being preserv- 

 ed remarkably well, is thus upon both specimens of Mr. Prinsep: 



Tn^rfj^i *vaiu *jmu. 



Mahdrdgo shall no longer detain us. With regard to mahatako 

 for great, I do only remark, that mahatd has here the additional 

 termination ka, so frequent in Pracrit;* there it would be 

 mahantako ; our king was apparently fain to compensate by the 

 adjective the loss he had to suffer on account of the substantive; 

 for fiaaiXe (jjq fiaai\kb)v certainly carries the impression of higher 

 dignity than mahdrdgo, or it was perhaps the title king of kings, 

 already so worn out, as to be of no more value than mahdrdgo. 



If we pass to the name, the penultimate letter n (No. 21), 

 must be, it appears, a sibilant, according to the Greek; in de- 

 noting it by s, I do not anticipate an examination, hereafter to 

 ensue, in order to distinguish more accurately between y,^,". 

 The n will occur again as a sibilant. This being settled, the 

 name is Kaliriso. But whatsoever alteration of the names the 

 language of our coins may have admitted, according to its ge- 

 nuine laws, it could never have changed an ipa into k. I there" 

 fore maintain ipa, not to be the real commencement of the name. 



What was it then? On this we are informed by the coin 

 of Spalirios, connected at least by name ; for it represents, 

 As. Trans, v. PI. xxxv. No. 6, iv. PI. xxi. No. 9, (the e 

 which is indispensable near 1, is very indistinct upon the latter, 

 and it does not occur at all upon the former), the initial 

 letters by kala — (kali) ; here (for the coin of Ipalirisos), we 

 require only the initial letter, which we find to be a ka for the 

 Greek air a. I maintain, therefore, that the pretended Ipalirisos 

 was called Spalirisos.f 



Many will perhaps think this alteration impossible ; but I am 

 of opinion, that it may not only be vindicated, but that it is 

 particularly adapted to confirm, in a striking manner, all that 

 has been previously said on the nature of the language. 



* My Grammar p. 288. 

 t Spalirishasa is Mr. James Prinsep's latest reading of this name from 

 the Bactrian legend.— H. T. P. 



