JOURNAL 



ASIATIC SOCIETY 



No. II.— 1851 



Observations on the Physiology of the Arabic Language. By 

 A. Sprenger, Secretary Asiatic Society of Bengal. 



The grammar of a language inasmuch as it teaches us of what parts 

 its body (i. e. words and phrases) is composed may fitly be compared 

 with anatomy. The analogy may be carried farther and an enquiry 

 into the genius of a language, which is the living and productive prin- 

 ciple of the development of these parts, may be called its physiology. 



The Shemitic idioms, of which Arabic is the prototype, have the 

 following very striking peculiarities. 



1 . Save a few exceptions they have no compound words or forms 

 of words.* In the Hindu-germanic dialects, and more particularly 

 in the Tatar languages, not only derivatives but even the moods, tenses, 

 numbers, &c, are frequently expressed by compounding : thus fuerant 

 is plainly composed of fu (in Persian bu-dan) and erant ; lovely 

 (German, lieb-lich) is composed of love and like (German, gleich) ; the 

 Hindustani word kariinga &jj$ " I shall do" is composed of kar, 

 do, un which means I, and ga, i. e. go or shall, and it answers to the 



* I do not consider forms like ma-ktub written (German ge-schrieben ;) ma-ktab 

 place of writing or school ; ta-qarrub nor even mota-qarrib as compositions but as 

 an expansion of the root to be explained hereafter. But tu-fyt thou passest is 

 undoubtedly compound. It also appears to me that the 10th form of verbs is com- 

 pound as ist-i-ghfar to wish or beg for pardon. Iste-mek means in the Tatar lan- 

 guages to desire. Should there be a connexion between this verb and the ist ; which 

 is prefixed to Arabic Verbs in the 10th form ? 



No. XLV. — New Series. q, 



